Ashes to Embers
by Happy Mistake
Summary: Serana knew she had to stop her father to save Skyrim. She never knew she had to stop the Dragonborn too. [Slow-burn romance]
1. Trust Set On Fire

**Chapter 1: Trust Set On Fire  
**

Feet rustled through the destroyed detritus of the crypt. Serana looked up at the stalactites that hung from the cave ceiling when pebbles dropped on her, and took wide berths to avoid the ones that spelled mutilating impalement if they broke from their hold. She wrinkled her nose at the briny smell of slimy lichen and dusty bones.

"I can't wait to get out of here," Serana mumbled.

She kept her distance from the Nord woman who lead in front of her with reason. Sparks drifted upward and one of the mage's fingers glowed like an ember, where smoke drifted away from the magical fire serving as their lantern to illuminate the cave. The bright hot flame flickered like a mischievous tongue stuck out at her and it made her shiver. The mage was starkly quiet, with the crackling of her small flame the only sounds she made. She hooked her other arm on her elbow and cradled the hand that was crudely wrapped in bandages that were soaked with her blood. It dripped off her fingertips. Blood and fire. A vampire's treasured love and despised nemesis, so cruel to be so close together.

"Do you need to take a break?" Serana asked. "We should take a look at your hand."

"You're not the only one who can't wait to get out of here," came the tremulous reply, but the Nord gave a thin-lipped smile over her shoulder.

Serana returned it uneasily. "You heard that, did you?"

"It distracted me from the cursing in my head."

The mage swept debris off a small rock and sat on it. She extinguished her firelight to check her hand, where pain glowed in her eyes. Serana approached and held up her hands to show she was no threat when the pain-glazed eyes snapped to her in suspicion, and the mage cradled her hand closer to her body.

"Stay back, vampire, **or else**." A threat? As if she could hurt Serana. Not a fact that helps built rapport when pointed out.

"I'm not going to hurt you."

Serana was deliberate and slow in every move. With her dagger and fangs, she cut her cloak into long thin strips and offered them.

"We need to stop that bleeding. May I help?"

The mage's gaze dissected her. It fell when she shook her head and held her hand out, and Serana smelled fear. She bit back her sigh and tried not to take it personally or jump in her defence, not when she understood why the mortal was guarded. She smelled the bodies of other dead vampires the second she awoke from her tomb earlier. She stretched and leaned forward as far as she could to still keep a reasonable distance between their bodies. The sweet smell of blood tempted her. She turned around as soon as the woman grabbed the strips of her cloak and closed her eyes to focus on the cave's smells.

Stale air. Rotting vegetation. Animal musk and feces. Everything was pulling her nose to the tantalizing scent behind her to hide away from these horrid smells. She opened her eyes, took a deep breath, and counted as many stalactites as she could spot. Her senses heightened. The sounds of grunts and fabric whining when wound taut had roared in her ears.

"Done," the mage whispered with weariness, the word brittle as it struggled not to fall apart.

Serana turned around. The woman rooted in her spot as if sitting on a rock was going to protect her, but a small taut smile broke out with a silvery voice.

"Thank you."

She didn't offer anything more. She stood and jammed a hand in a fissure in the stone wall to help her climb up a steep hill. Crestfallen, Serana had a dour look, but respected the silence and followed without offering anything else herself. She kept her distance the second the flame burst to life on the mage's fingertip again. Serana didn't trust this mortal, and the fire didn't change her mind.

Bones rattled when kicked aside as they delved deeper, and the cave expanded majestically into what looked like a throne room. Serana's gaze honed in to the sounds that cracked by her ears, and she unsheathed her dagger when skeletons rose from their chairs. She summoned sparks and shot off bolts of energy at those closest to them. Shivers rolled down her spine when the mage launched balls of fire further down, and deafening explosions rocked the air. Serana kept close to the walls and shadows, caught off guard when the mage ran down to what seemed to be an impromptu arena of sorts. She lured the skeletons in and was nimble enough to evade their swings or their spikes of ice.

"What is she doing?" Serana grumbled under her breath.

It made her job harder with the woman bouncing about somewhat without prediction, and Serana stayed her spells. She was about to approach until a fireball was launched at the ceiling of stalactites, and they rained down on the arena while the mage sprinted away for dear life. Serana rushed down to the stairs to meet the Nord and clothed her mouth with her forearm. She shot off a bolt of sparks at a skeleton before it's sword licked the mage's back.

Dust and sand kicked up in a fury when the stalactites crashed. Metal shrieked and the gate buckled under the weight of the stalactites to the pit of fire and spikes. The wave of dust flew at them and Serana coughed even with her mouth covered. She rushed back up the stairs with eyes closed when they bit and stung from the debris, and the mage hacked and wheezed herself. When it settled, they both found themselves on their stomachs with cold stone digging into them. Exhausted, Serana turned her head and looked accusingly at the mage.

"Why did you do that? We would have been just fine picking them off with our spells."

"It seemed like a good idea," the mage coughed. "Until I fired the fireball at the ceiling. I was grouping them up to blow them away and decided to over-complicate it instead."

Serana chuckled, which made her choke on the dust caught in her throat. She rolled on her back and sighed.

"Glad to know you realized it was a bad idea before they started crashing down..." She trailed off, realizing she didn't know the Nord's name.

It wrought a sheepish laugh from the mage.

Serana looked when the woman pushed herself up onto her knees, where the sweet muted smell of blood pulled the vampire's gaze to the bandages. She forced herself away and kept a careful eye on the integrity of the cave ceiling. The last thing they needed was to be caved in, buried alive, or flattened if any large chunks fell on them.

"Hey." Serana fixated her eyes on the mage's face. "You still haven't told me your name, you know."

"You don't need to know." The quick and guarded reply plucked a nerve. "Just make one up."

"I've told you mine."

"You offered. I never asked for it." The mage groaned when she rose and her joints popped out of stiffness. Pebbles skipped down the stairs and bounced off the debris. "We both don't trust each other for obvious reasons. We don't need to pretend to be friends. I will be civil, but nothing more."

"Knowing each other's names is part of civility."

The mage didn't say anything. She cradled her bandaged hand as she descended the steps with caution. She stopped with a heavy breath.

"You ask for too much."

"That's too much? I'd hate to see what you consider too little."

The mage turned with a frown and held her injured hand up. "The only reason you're out of your tomb is because I unlocked your blood seal."

Serana's brows scrumped together. "Blood seal? What blood seal?"

"Exactly. I didn't know either."

This wasn't making any sense, and these roundabout answers were irritating. Serana pushed the boundary and employed her powers with the little strength she had recuperated since awakening, appearing in front of the mage in the blink of an eye. She grabbed the Nord's forearm and cast a severely chilling aura to starve the oxygen out of any attempt to conjure fire, the predicted response. Trickles of heat were demolished in the face of her cold.

"Let me go!" The mage yelled with a tug and failed to break free. "After all I've done, you-!"

"I'm not going to hurt you."

Serana kept a steely grip and inspected the injured hand. She cast a light frosting of ice to coat the bandages.

"There. That should help with the pain and to slow the bleeding some more."

She tried to get a sense of the injury from where fresh blood was trickling out of, and it disturbed her to find that it was on both sides of the hand. It hadn't shocked her when the mage wedged distance between them as soon as she was released, but at least she wore confusion and suspicion rather than anger. The mage studied the ice coating her bandages and turned around.

"Thank you," the mage mumbled, looking a little guilty and embarrassed. She took the lead and navigated the debris on the way out of the cave and Serana was close behind.

"You're welcome."

Serana waited, and waited, but she didn't get what she wanted. Did she have to spell everything out?

"So... Can I know your name now?"

Irritation glossed over and threatened her calm when the mage shot a smirk over.

"You offered. I never agreed to tell you my name in exchange for this."

Serana groaned. "Is it truly that hard for you? I've proven myself that I mean no harm and that I'm no enemy."

"You also were quick to point out to the one who freed you that you don't trust me. Don't think I'll be manipulated so easily."

"I'm not..." Serana sucked in a breath. She dropped it, because she could maybe kind of see the point the Nord was making about trust. "Never mind."

She glanced over her shoulder before she followed the mage out. Smoke smouldered out between the cracks of the crashed stalactites in the fire pit. The skeletons in there were going to be little more than dust, with time. May their ashes rest in peace with their souls now.

Blood, and fire, and ashes. It gave her an idea.

Serana pushed through the aches in her bones and met the mage outside the cave, where the snow howled and blew across the banks, and whirls swept around in crescent patterns. The crunch of snow beneath her boots and the clean ozone-like smell of fresh air lifted her spirits. Winds carried the smells of carrions and briny open water, but the chill that even she could feel brought her attention to the mage who was less than adequately dressed, with a sash around the hips being the only coverage for exposed flesh at the mercy of being rubbed raw and sliced by the wind burn.

The mage may have bore the features of a Nord, a short one compared to the typical standard, but even the hardiest of Nords weren't foolish enough to bare all in Skyrim's frozen tundra. Serana was about to voice her flabbergasted concern, but was caught off guard when she swore she saw specks of steam being carried away from the mage's skin and into the winds. She was the embodiment of fire, but not. With all their interactions so far, she was more the embodiment of the results of fire, in Serana's opinion.

"Ashes," Serana blurted.

The mage turned, confused. "What?"

"That's my name for you. Ashes."

Ashes' fruity laughter danced in the air. Her good hand became a beacon of fiery light in the tundra, the contrast to the monotone colours of the sky and land.

"I like it."

Serana smiled with hope.

* * *

Silvery hues bathed the scarce woods they took shelter in, where the moon shone through a lattice of frost crystals coating skeletal tree branches. Logs clunked together when Ashes rearranged them and snapped twigs to feed her campfire.

Shivers rolled through Serana every time the Nord was able to stick her good hand directly in the flames to move the sticks wherever she wanted them to be. It must have been quite the treasured boon to not be harmed by one's own magic. Gamy wild meat cooked on a stick, propped by stones beside the fire. The smell grew enticing and Serana's throat tightened in anticipation. She redirected her focus on the pine boughs weighed down with snow and the occasional call of a duck, or the howl of a wolf. The silence was killing her. Even in the company of someone, she felt lonely. Life hadn't changed much.

Desperate to fill and kill the silence, Serana grabbed one of the sticks with the rarest-looking meat and dared sit as close as she could tolerate the campfire's warmth.

"That one hasn't cooked through yet," Ashes said. "You should wait to be safe, or it might make you sick."

"Vampires are immune to disease." Serana shrugged and bit into the spongy meat.

Truth be told, it was what leaked out and filled her mouth that she had wanted. She closed her eyes to focus and enjoy the natural spice of the wild meat and blood. She didn't dare bring up the question to ask if Ashes mentioned the rarity of the meat out of concern, or if there was some other motive at play. Hopefully this tip-toeing around wouldn't last forever or this was going to be a very long trip. What was probably an hour at best between the two felt more like an entire year has already passed since Serana's awakening in the tomb.

Serana scooted closer away from the campfire when embers popped and peppered at her. Her eyes dried and teared a little from the heat and smoke, and her throat felt scratchy from it all. She tried not to make her own reasons overtly obvious because of the way Ashes would look at her with suspicion. When she moved, the mage caught her off guard with a sheepish smile and waved a hand over the flames, where they heeded her call and shrunk a little, sparks spitting less vigorously. Ashes grabbed a stick of meat herself and they ate in awkward silence.

Anticipation came and went again. Serana slowed her chewing so that it wouldn't ring in her ears and kept eye-contact in hopes it would propel the mage to say **something**, anything. Nothing happened. She could understand why, sort of. Mortals were sooner to run away from vampires, not dine with them. She watched the flames with disappointment, but often stolen glances to study the woman across her.

Ashes had removed the few pieces of armour she wore, but everything was either beside her or between her feet. With her pauldrons removed, Serana noticed something peculiar for a mage that has so far shown to rely only on magic as a tool. Her shoulders were defined and roped with muscle, where they twinged down the arm whenever she manoeuvred the stick of meat to bite it at a different angle. Her eyes met Serana's for a second before they fleeted away to the food. She didn't seem fond of eye contact. Was she nervous of Serana's presence, or overall shy?

"It's weird to eat with you staring," Ashes murmured.

Serana wanted to groan over the agony of this 'conversation'. "Sorry," she mumbled instead.

She stopped staring. It didn't mean she stopped stealing glances. Her gaze wandered to the bandaged hand, where she tried to imagine what kind of blood seal was in place that may have not been immediately obvious of what it was, and what it demanded tribute for. It was clever of mother to have concocted one, and even more so what it was powered by. Did it require only mortal blood, or could the blood of a vampire also unlock the seal? She guessed mortal, but it would not stop father from kidnapping an innocent or using a thrall's blood instead. Maybe she would find out someday. How did Ashes feel about this all? A roundabout question might yield a more promising answer if the mage didn't know what kind of answer was expected, to give it in a roundabout manner again.

"How's your hand?" Serana asked, and made sure to keep her gaze glued to the threads of meat clinging to her stick.

"It hurts."

This was the part where silence would work for Serana, instead of against her. She maintained her staring at her food and waited for Ashes to be moved to fill the silence and offer more insight, but all she offered was the smacks of her chewing the meat.

Right.

Okay.

That failed.

Serana sighed. "It would be a lot less painful if we were a little more than civil."

"Hm... You think so, Lady Serana?" Ashes hummed.

It was the first she finally used the vampire's name. She met Serana's eyes and kept it. The mage's face was serious, but there was a playful curl to her lips. She held up her hand to her face and stared at it, flexing her fingers. Pain struck across her eyes. She looked back at Serana with a shrug.

"Nope. Still hurts."

Wonderful. She must have thought she was being so cute and clever. That her definition of being a little more civil meant using Serana's name was disheartening, and the vampire finally gave up. She didn't need this and she was going nowhere with this. She tossed her stick into the fire and rose from her seat, adjusted the way the Elder Scroll sat on her back, and embarked to leave the woods.

"Where are you going?" Ashes asked.

"Home. It's clear you don't want to have anything to do with me. Thank you for all you've done leading up to this point, but it's best if we part ways here."

"I never said I don't want to have anything to do with you."

Serana stopped at the treeline and shot a frown over her shoulder. "You don't have to say it when your every action screams it."

Ashes' mouth opened to protest, but it remained opened without protest. Realization seemed to strike and her features softened. She sighed and tossed her stick aside, her hand cutting across the air. The flames died suddenly and all that was left was smoke and ashes as evidence it ever existed in the first place. She rose from her stump and brushed the snow off her sash.

"I'm sorry that I came off that way," Ashes sighed. "But understand, every vampire I've ever met has tried to kill me. I'm not going to be friendly to one at the snap of my fingers. If my being cautious has offended you, then I apologize, but I will not feign what I do not feel or lie about my feelings. I do not trust you. That's fact. But it is also fact that you do not trust me."

Serana crossed her arms. "At least I'm making the effort of trying to."

"Alright, then." Ashes held out her hand. "If you're trying to, then give me the Elder Scroll for a second."

That made the vampire dig in. She shook her head sternly. "No."

"You can't trust me for **one** **second**?"

"You give me no reason to."

"Have you given me reason to?"

"I've helped you bandage your hand when I could have drained you of your blood if I was like every other vampire."

"The hand that's injured because I freed you from your enclosure, and despite that, I still helped fight on our way out of the cave. My existence does not threaten you the way yours threatens me."

"Is that so? I have fangs. You have fire."

"We're providing reasons not to trust each other now. And they're not just reasons. They're facts."

Serana was irritated by the smile that made itself more obvious on the fire mage's face. She didn't give the satisfaction of an obvious answer, and left Ashes behind. Her name was perfect for her. Instead of setting things ablaze, she set trust on fire and left the embers to smoulder into dust. The hope Serana felt before had extinguished. Her only mission now was to get home as soon as possible, and she was going to be just as cautious as the mage now. There's an unspoken reason why Ashes was following along.

It was fact that it wasn't out of the kindness of her heart.


	2. Building Burned Bridges

**Chapter 2: Building Burned Bridges**

What made Skyrim breathtaking was the ability to go from one extreme to the other. From fierce blizzards, to tranquil meadows.

Serana smiled when the fire mage broke off the occasional stalk of sweet grass and chewed on it while they traversed across the moonlit meadow. The breeze that ruffled through her clothes and brushed her hair was welcome. Serana soaked in the sights and sounds, guided to a nearby creek when she heard water trickling over stones and roots. The earth sank from mud and dew when she knelt and washed her face. Her gaze snapped to the reflection in the water, and she looked behind her to see Ashes right there. Too close to the Elder Scroll for comfort. Serana rose and kept distance between them.

"I was thinking we set up camp and take shelter in the nearby forest overnight." Ashes said.

She knelt by the water and cupped water in her good hand to wash her face, then drank. She wiped her mouth with a content sigh and stood, pointing in the direction they travelled in.

"After we cross this meadow, we'll be knee-deep in the swamps of Morthal's region." Ashes continued. "I'd rather not travel through there right now, so let's wait until dawn breaks and recuperate our strength. Too many creatures of the night is a recipe for a dangerous journey."

Serana frowned. She wondered if she was lumped in with those creatures, but kept it to herself and nodded.

"Alright. Lead the way."

They traversed through the long grass seeded with wildflowers, until they entered a narrow path with tall trees laden with leaves hemming the clearing. The sounds of small critters scampering through the grass brought a smile to Serana's face, and when Ashes broke off another stalk of grass to chew on, so did she. The fire mage looked over with interest, the long thread of grass bouncing in the corner of her lips.

"A vampire eating vegetation? Interesting choice." Ashes teased.

Serana smiled and didn't give the satisfaction of an answer. She found a wild strawberry and popped that into her mouth whether it was ripe or not. The fire mage laughed.

"Are you having an identity crisis, Serana?"

"Careful, you're the only one around that could help me solve that," she teased back.

Her smile grew when the fruity laughter skipped in the air until it tempered off into silence. She studied the fire mage's bare back, both not surprised that there weren't many garments worn, and curious as to how Ashes appeared so comfortable with it. Besides modesty, how could she jump into the frontlines of battle without protection? The pauldrons on her shoulders were useless for a sword lunging for her torso. Serana didn't look forward to getting that answer any time soon. That the woman was unscathed except for her hand had to of meant something in a cave that smelled starkly of vampire blood and charred flesh.

She was caught off guard when Ashes twisted and held something out in her hand. Serana chuckled when it was another stalk of sweet grass. She smirked and took it.

"Thanks." She tucked the stalk in the corner of her lips and chewed on it.

They entered the forest, and Serana was ignited by the sensations that burst to life.

Lizards scrabbled on the tree branches, insects churred, and dead leaves crunched under their feet. The smell of pine delighted her and she ran her palms against the scratchy bark. She caught a small bundle of sticky sap by accident, and was mindful not to have that hand anywhere near her face when twigs snagged her hair and scratched her face.

Since leaving the crypt, these excursions were more adventurous than all the ones she had in Castle Volkihar's sewers.

Spider web strands brushed her skin when they broke through into a clearing, pushing aside hanging moss to reveal a nice little nook they could use to set up camp.

Except they had no gear.

Ashes had gone ahead and started to assemble broken off branches and twigs in the middle. She kicked at the grass and ripped it out so that there was a circle of dirt surrounding what was about to be a firepit. Serana kept her distance when the bonfire went up. When Ashes started plucking leaves off branches, Serana pitched in and went into the forest to find more branches. She dragged it back and smirked when the fire mage already made herself comfortable on her pile of leaves dangerously close to the fire. Serana wasn't excited to sleep the same way, not that she needed to sleep anyway. She left the branches by Ashes and went to go sit against a tree, wondering if the fire mage really was asleep in the presence of a vampire.

Blood became a temptation again. Serana made the mistake of stealing one too many looks at the bandages, where the strips of her cloak looked stained and darker than before. She approached with deliberate noise, but the mage seemed to be fast asleep by how dreamlike she looked, drooling on her leaves.

Serana sighed. She sat cross-legged in front of the mage and hovered her hand over the bandages to cast a sustained chill over it, careful not to instigate frostbite.

It was ever curious to see what kind of wound it was, and how Ashes was even functioning with it still bleeding. Wasn't she worried about bleeding out? Wasn't she dizzy? If she was, she wasn't in any rush to unveil the symptoms, and Serana understood why.

What she didn't understand was why this mortal was prioritizing their journey over her injury. It appeared serious, and what if function was lost?

Maybe the fire mage wasn't aware of the consequences.

"Ashes?" Serana whispered. She stirred the mage awake with a gentle shake of the shoulder.

Ashes' pupils dilated when they snapped to her, dazed. Then she seemed to jump in her own skin, snapped awake. Her pupils shrunk and her scent changed from earthy warmth to the starch stench of fear. The fire mage scooted back on her bum. She accidentally used her bad hand and she suffocated her cry halfway it clawed out her throat. Her arm buckled on her and she slammed on her back, cradling her hand to her chest as she squeezed her eyes shut before tears leaked out. Her voice broiled deep in her chest, churning with lava and gravel.

"Shor's beard, Serana! I thought you were a wolf!"

A wolf wasn't so bad as being pointed out for what she was.

"I'm sorry," Serana murmured, but she wasn't entirely sorry.

She helped the mage come back up into sitting and tried not to make the temptation plain on her face. The blood was inches away from her nose. Her **feast** was inches away from her fangs. To stop these predatory thoughts, she looked at the bonfire. Ashes' blood would taste like those flames.

"Why did you wake me up?"

What a grumbly little woman.

"Your hand," Serana reached out, but the bad hand retreated. She frowned. "We should take a look at it and re-bandage it."

"Why are you so interested in my hand?" Ashes cradled it closer to her chest, her suspicious eyes dark as coals in the dead of night.

"If you lose function, or if it gets infected, you'll lose that hand."

Serana stood and looked around, picking stalks of flowers that she couldn't entirely remember if they had regenerative properties or not. It wasn't that important for a vampire to know. Blood became clearer to smell. She glanced over her shoulder quickly, then set back to work with a smile. Ashes was, albeit reluctantly, unwrapping the bandages. Not without voicing her suspicion some more.

"Still haven't mentioned why you're interested," Ashes mumbled.

"If you're waiting for me to confess that it's because I want to taste your blood, you can rest at ease. I'm not stupid."

"Not stupid to tell the truth?"

"Not stupid to think about drinking the blood of a fire mage. I don't feel like turning into tinder for a fire myself."

It seemed to do the trick, apart from, yes, not being stupid to tell the truth. It was a natural yearning for a vampire starved of rich blood rather than scraps from an animal, but that logic helped hammer it down in Serana's head that it was indubitably the most stupid idea to drink the blood of a fire mage. Ashes finally relaxed at that. She even seemed to be proud of the fact. Serana brought her pile of flowers over and found the farthest nook away from the campfire, sitting in such a way that the fire mage's body blocked the sight of flames. The bandages piled aside and Serana did her best to ignore the temptation in front of her by listening to the sounds of the woods. The coyotes called and wolves howled, with some yipping and snarls. The flutter of wings unseen. The rustling of leaves in the breeze.

None of that could take her eyes away from the crusted gaping hole of Ashes' hand. All the sounds faded into nothing and the world turned into a tunnel. She looked up when the fire mage cradled her hand by her wrist, cursing under her breath.

"Look at it," Ashes' whispered, voice quivering.

She looked a lot paler than the moon could take credit for. Her complexion glimmered with beads of sweat in the silvery beams that broke through the trees. The flames behind her lashed nervously, without cause. She was going into shock. Serana acted quickly.

"Lay down, and take slow, deep breaths. We'll wrap your hand up in a second."

She urged the fire mage back on the pile of leaves, then plucked the petals of the flowers she had picked and crushed them in her palm. She sandwiched them in between two of the largest leaves she could find. She carefully took Ashes' wrist, who jerked away when the vampire was about to place the leaves down on the one side of the gaping hole, but waited and watched the fire mage, who's complexion grew brighter by the second.

"Deep breaths, breathe with me," Serana encouraged. "In, and out."

They fell into a rhythm together. Ashes licked her lips, and turned her head away to the campfire. She nodded slowly.

Her scream echoed when the leaves were placed down.

"I'm sorry," Serana chanted as she worked to make the next bundle of **hopefully** regenerative flowers.

She placed them on the other side of the gaping hole and squeezed tightly when the fire mage's jerky movements had ripped off the fragile crusty scabs. Fresh blood flowed freely. Serana used her fangs to untie the laces of one of her leather wrist-gauntlets.

"I know it hurts, but you have to hold the leaves for a minute and keep squeezing to help it clot. If you lose any more blood, you're going to lose your hand. Here."

Serana shoved the one gauntlet up against Ashes' mouth, who complied without thought and bit down on it. She muffled her growls in the leather and squeezed her eyes shut. She turned her head away, but Serana still smelled the salty tears that leaked out. Her heart sank. She couldn't afford to slow down though. She untied her second gauntlet and unsheathed her dagger, sawing it in half. She hovered the piece over and wrapped it over top while Ashes' pinned the leaves to her hand. Her heels dug their own little trenches in the earth.

The second half overlapped the first piece to make sure each hole had adequate coverage, and the leaves were well-pressed against the wounds. Hopefully the flowers would help clotting and healing a little faster.

Soon Ashes' sounds were the ones that faded into nothing, and the tunnel opened up to the world. Serana fell on her rear and raked her hair out of her face, finding it glued to the sides of her cheeks. She wiped a hand across her forehead and collected a thin layer of sweat. Her stomach roiled with nausea, and instinct turned her palms over. They were singed. The fire mage's body temperature alone had burned her through leaves and **leather.**

"Ysmir's beard," Ashes croaked. She lazily pushed up on her elbow and blinked at Serana's hands. "Did I do that do you?"

"Call us even," Serana murmured with a thin smile.

She summoned frost magic to soothe and numb the intense burning throbbing that kicked in as soon as adrenaline settled down. She hadn't even known she had gotten a shot of adrenaline. She crossed her legs and stared at her hands in her focus to cool them down. Another hand came into view. Bandages. The campfire suddenly extinguished and Serana's head shot up in confusion. Her eyes adjusted to the new wave of darkness within a second, and Ashes seemed to be staring in the general direction of her.

"Sorry," the fire mage whispered. "For what it's worth, I didn't mean to do that to you."

"I know." Serana held out her palms. It didn't seem Ashes could really see them. "My hands are fine now."

Serana wished she couldn't really see either, see the frown that crossed the fire mage's face.

"Because vampires regenerate during the night, right?"

Nords as a whole were honest and blunt to a fault from the time Serana remembered, and that culture seemed to continue to whatever era she had found herself in now. Ashes was so ridiculously easy to see through, even when she appeared to **attempt** to curb her obvious loathing for vampires, that it was almost a little amusing.

Ashes sighed, and she laid down on her pile of leaves, her back towards Serana. Her grumble made the vampire smile with hope.

"Handy trick."

* * *

Falling leaves kissed Serana's face. She slowly stirred and wiped them off with a long and heavy breath, blinking the bright world into view. The trees shielded her from the full brunt of the sunlight. The sun may have been a vampire's natural nemesis, but Serana had come to love what the sun did to the world around her. Birds sung and animals rooted in the underbrush. Insects hummed, and the offensive odour that slammed her belonged to a skunk somewhere. The sun brought the world to **life.**

Ashes was up and about like the beasts of nature, infected by the sun's vigour. She had collected a couple generous piles of berries, mushrooms and nuts.

"When did you pick all of those?" Serana asked.

"At dawn." The fire mage gestured to the berries and nuts. "Can vampires eat food or does it make you sick?"

"I survived as a herbivore eating grass yesterday so I think I'll be fine," Serana smirked.

Ashes chuckled. She stood and left the piles, disappearing in the forest to forage more.

The vampire pushed herself up into sitting and raked a hand through her hair, grimacing. Her intricate braids have fallen apart. She probably looked like a fool with leaves in her hair. When had she even fallen asleep? She remembered not being enthused by sleeping on **dirt. **It had been a long day though, and at least the fire mage was kind enough to not ignite another campfire. Curious, Serana head over to the piles of food and popped a few wild berries in her mouth. The strong tang flooded her palate and she grimaced. Twigs snapped to her side and alerted her to the fire mage's presence, who laughed.

"Looks like I've helped you solve your identity crisis after all. I don't think you'll survive another day as a herbivore, with that face."

"It's taste just... Caught me off guard."

"I'll say. That's what you get for eating the ones that aren't ripe yet. Here, I've a few here that should be a lot sweeter than that. Try these."

Ashes strolled over with a makeshift sack of berries inside the pocket she made by grabbing the end of her sash. She didn't seem at all bothered by the juices that stained the fabric, nor her haggard and wild appearance. She had loose leaves and bits of moss that stuck out like a sore thumb in her raven hair, and she didn't seem aware of it. It was going to stay that way. Entertaining.

Serana tried a couple other berries that were offered to her, and the sweet taste enveloped her tongue. She hummed, pleased, and nodded to the fire mage with a smile.

"Tastes good. I've never had fresh wild berries before."

For whatever reason, Ashes stared at her as if she had two heads. Then the fire mage grinned. It was bright and energetic and warm and maybe that blatant hint of mischief could qualify as a red flag, but Serana was swept in by the excitement of her own thought that maybe, just maybe, there was a friend in this one, someone she could say she trusted. To a degree.

"It's settled." Ashes scrambled a pile of clean leaves together and dumped the berries on top. She ran off to root in the brushes for more.

"What's settled?" Serana asked.

She wandered over to watch and learn what to pick, experimentally plucking some. She held out her palm to the fire mage, who took it from her with eagerness and dumped it on her sash. Ashes' mischief was as obvious as it could be, where her amber eyes ignited with all it's hues of browns and hazel-greens, casting an almost golden tint that made her look more like a beast than a human. Her wild dishevelled hair flicked over her shoulder when she turned sharply, berries and nuts hoarded amusingly in her stained sash.

"Your identity crisis! You're going to be the first herbivorous vampire in Skyrim."

Ashes came awkwardly close, lifting her sash as high as it could before the berries rolled into her stomach. Her bandaged hand seemed not to bother her with how much more she used it. Maybe the mix of products sandwiched against her wounds were helping. She looked serious and sold on her idea.

Serana kept her true thoughts to herself and entertained the fire mage by eating the nuts and berries. Hopefully they would still come across game, but the vampire had a sinking feeling that she would have to sneak off on her own and catch a rabbit or a squirrel to drain it of all it's blood. She didn't like the idea of hiding what she was. She hoped it wouldn't come to that.

"Could you actually survive as a herbivore?" Ashes asked with what sounded like earnest naiveté.

Serana smirked and wiped the corners of her mouth before the juice stained and became sticky. She knew how to make her point.

"Could you? And would you **want** to?"

Ashes stared up in space. The sash slowly dropped, and the bundle of berries turned to mush when they collided on the ground, splashing on their boots. The fire mage turned around without an answer and worked to scatter the piles of leaves they had used as bedding, then kicked dirt over the ash and soot of last night's campfire. She had this concentrated look on her face that often conflicted and moulded into a deep and intense frown. Finally, she turned with an answer and eyes honed with precision and suspicion.

"I could. I wouldn't want to. But I don't need to carry the burden of wondering, like you."

Serana's head cocked in confusion. "Burden of wondering?"

"You're obviously not like all other vampires. You're burdened by wondering of the necessities that come with being one."

That was her opinion.

Serana shrugged. "I wouldn't call it a burden. Not all vampires are monsters."

"I didn't say they're monsters. That's come from **you,** so you know of the ones who are. And if you know of any more that don't attack on sight like feral animals, I'd like to meet them. Until then." Ashes held up her hand in front of her face and it ignited in flames. "I'm burning every single one that doesn't prove to be like you."

The vampire crossed her arms. "And what do they need to do to prove they're like me?"

"Keep your fangs sheathed."

Heat was building in Ashes' voice, and with it, tension boiled between them.

Serana narrowed her eyes. "Keep your flames extinguished."

"I'm not the one you have to worry about. I'm not a wild beast out of control."

"Neither are all vampires."

"Out of all the ones I have ever met, you are the only one that's been friendly. And believe me." Ashes flicked her hand and the fire died on her fingers, fizzling out with silent smoke. "I've met a lot of them. Each one that was unfortunate enough to cross my path has turned into the name you've given me."

"How quaint. I'm sure you did your best to foster a friendly relationship."

Her sarcasm earned a swift and fiery backlash. Ashes' eyes flashed, and she stepped forward like she was about to march to Serana and wrangle her neck. What was worse was when she stopped in a spot where a thin beam of sunlight broke through the leaves, setting her eyes ablaze with a searing reflection that hurt to look at.

"Yes, let me stop the vampire that's slaughtered a whole village, feeding on **children**, and ask them to join me for tea. I'm sure I just misunderstood them."

Serana looked away. It burned her eyes trying to keep the fire mage's gaze. There was a disgusting pull for blood that made saliva pool in her mouth. She never would and partook in many a meditative training to discipline herself with her cravings, but she knew of many vampires that boasted how rich and delicious a young laddie and lassie's blood was. There was always a predatory instinct she had to suffocate whenever something smaller than her crossed her path.

"That's what I thought," Ashes grumbled. She whipped around and marched out to find the path that lead out of the forest.

Serana sighed and followed in silence. She of course still felt the need to defend, but could feel heat radiating from the fire mage's body from back a couple meters away, and could understand the hostility. The vampire would be a liar if she said **most** vampires weren't like the ones Ashes seemed to be well-acquainted with. Not all of them were though. They really weren't. It was wiser to leave this be and let the boiling pot cool now that it was taken off the fire, though. She was grateful Ashes' temper hadn't manifested in more flames. Serana wasn't going to take a chance prodding more until there was an explosion.

The vampire grabbed at twigs, grass, and practised her eye on ripe berries. She picked at them every now and then to study their colours and firmness before she popped it in her mouth to learn from her mistakes. She caught the fire mage looking over her shoulder. Ashes slowed and turned around, and her posture still screamed that she was ready for a fight. She waved at Serana to come closer. There was a stark spike in the smell of fear when the vampire came close to brushing shoulders, but Ashes focused on the food that Serana couldn't truly find it in her heart to care for. It was just a way to build a bridge between them.

"Look at these, this bush has a lot of ripe berries. We should stop picking them for now so that the birds have something to eat though. Let's practice in the next forest we travel through and maybe there will be different types of them for us to try. I'll teach you how to spot the kinds that are toxic."

Ashes darted off awkwardly after that. Serana wondered if the bridge that had started to be built was already burned from them butting heads over vampires. They cleared the forest and returned to the rolling meadow, where the world lit up in light from the hot sun. It made a shiver roll down Serana and she didn't have her cloak to pull up a hood. It beat mercilessly on her face and she gravitated to any scrap of shadow in their path. She loosened her leather armour and took it off a few minutes later, holding it above her head for shade. Her fingers burned instead, exposed at the edges from holding her armour.

The fire mage glanced back at her. "Oh." Ashes slowed and turned around. She loosened the buckles on her belt that pinned her sash in between the slabs of metal.

"I'll be fine," Serana started.

"I'm making you travel in this, this is the least I can do to help. Here, use my sash as a head wrap."

The fire mage came over and made sure the berry stains were on the outside when she wrapped it around Serana's neck. That stink of fear came back from their proximity. Serana lowered her armour to the ground and tolerated the sun for as long as she could to help wrap it around herself faster. As soon as her head was covered, Ashes took her leather armour and skittered away quickly, where the stench of fear went away with time.

Serana sighed. This was going to be a long trip. She angled her head down and fixed the way the sash sat, pulling it up to her nose. She jerked back when a stalk of grass was shoved in her face, and laughed when Ashes tried to thread it underneath the sash, poking Serana's chin. Then the mage ran off again.

It was kind of hopeful. That Ashes kept coming back, even when she was afraid and suspicious. Maybe the bridge hadn't burned. But maybe this piece of grass was still Ashes trying to deny the vampirism, or maybe paving the foundation of trying to convince Serana of a cure. That wouldn't happen. Not after everything she had been through. She looked up and caught the fire mage select a piece of grass for herself, chewing in silence. Ashes stole many a shy glance every now and then.

Serana nibbled, smiling as they travelled.


	3. Akatosh's Curse

**Chapter 3: Akatosh's Curse**

Sooty columns of charcoal grey blotted out the sky. Flames licked tall trees, blazed through dry undergrowth and has turned an entire grass field to ash, with it spreading quickly with gusts of wings beating down from the hell above Serana. Grit and acrid ash coated her tongue. She coughed and held onto the sash wrapped around her head to keep her mouth covered, while she ran for the first piece of land that hadn't been set aflame.

Ash fell like snow and painful heat blistered her skin. Every breath in her lungs felt like they were wilting and charring on the inside. The roar and snap of flame, the crackle of burning wood that split under the pressure, the crash of timbers as they collapsed when the foundation crumbled beneath, it was hell.

"Ashes!" Serana yelled out weakly, followed by a series of coughs. She heard no one else apart from the rallying cry of a wounded and vengeful beast.

She tried to look past the haze of grey and brown as dust kicked up, circling in a cyclone as a dragon thrashed it's wings at the earth. What grass and weeds hadn't been anchored were kicked up with the debris. She was overcome with dizziness and the hair stood on the back of her arms and neck as she tried to find her footing in the heart of the vortex, falling to her knees. The ground quivered and she slapped her hands over her ears when the dragon belted out a deafening guttural gale of what she swore sounded like an actual language of some sort, but that would be insane. Had she somehow contracted brain rot?

Vibrations rumbled beneath her. Disoriented, she continued to rush towards the direction where the sky was still blue and uncovered. The enigma behind her raged it's destruction and torched the once-beautiful nature, transforming it into a wasteland. Her eyes stung and teared up with the dust thickening around her. It drove forth with another gust and sandblasted what skin was bare, at the mercy of whiplash from pebbles and slivers of broken bark.

"Ashes!" Serana shouted again. No answer.

Her dizziness became worse and her strength was depleting rapidly. The dust storm and maelstroms of flames blocked the sun, but the dry heat was worse and it was trapped in by the smoke. She stole sparing glances behind her to watch where the dragon was, and it appeared to be terrorizing a troll. Her eyes widened at what she saw come out of the dragon's mouth.

**Ice.**

All this destruction was that fire mage's fault. Had she gone mad? She did more damage than the beast!

Birds shrieked and forest animals yipped in their frantic bid to escape. Serana yelped when an elk whipped past her and ducked in time before she was impaled by it's antlers. She was suddenly grabbed and dragged, catching glimpse of a large amount of bare skin. Ashes. The scorching heat of the fire mage's hands seeped through the fabric of Serana's tunic in no time. She hissed and jerked her arm free.

"We have to run!" Ashes wheezed breathlessly.

She tried to grab Serana again, but her hand was warded away when the vampire cast a chilling aura to keep the madwoman intoxicated by flame-brain away. Serana scrambled up on her hands and knees and ran, more so for fresh air and shade instead of safety.

The fire mage was more threatening to her than the dragon.

They sought cover behind a boulder. Serana peeked around it, and she became incredibly aggravated with each jet of frost breath that erupted in the distance.

"Are you insane?! You did all of this, and that dragon is still flying!" Serana growled at the fire mage.

Ashes' chest rose and fell sharply, her palms and forehead connected to the cold stone. Sweat poured off of her as if she had gone for a run through the rain. Serana's eyes widened at the dried blood that ran down the fire mage's arms. She had burned off her bandages, but that wasn't the worst of it.

"What did you do to yourself?"

Serana yanked on Ashes' wrist, and bit back her growl when the intense heat seared off the skin of her fingertips, blistering immediately. She thrummed with the coldest energy she could summon to run like the current of her blood, turning her fingers into ice. The fire mage chuckled breathlessly, head tilted with a crooked smirk drenched with exhaustion.

"Now you can't yell at me for doing it yourself. I did that too, but with fire."

Serana wanted to groan. She frowned when Ashes held up her palm in front of her face, inspecting what she had done to herself. Her hand trembled immensely. The gaping hole was smaller, thank the gods, but it's chance to heal properly was robbed now. It was **cauterized. **

"I need to take that dragon down, or lure it away before it gets too close to Morthal and terrorize the townspeople."

Dragon. By the Void, this was real. Serana had to mind what her jaw was doing so she wouldn't be caught ogling the magnificent beast. It's white scales were caked in dust and smoke, and the dragon appeared to grow sloppy, tired, flying lower and lower. It's soft and fleshy underbelly had to be a weakpoint. She wisely encased both her hands in ice to be safe when the fire mage circled beside her to look around the boulder with her.

"Bastard's finally starting to move like a pregnant cow," Ashes grumbled. She flexed her good fist and set it ablaze. "I won't miss anymore."

Serana arched a brow at her. It made for an amusing image when she suddenly pictured a pregnant cow breathing frost, then taking off in flight.

"Well, even if you do, everything's already burned anyways." Serana teased. "It's not like you can make this worse than it already is."

Ashes didn't even look at her and kept her gaze fixed on the dragon, but her dry tone said it all. "Not helping, Serana."

"If you feel bad, just think about how all the animals feel, uprooted out of their home."

"Still not helping, Serana."

Serana bit the inside of her lip to stop herself from smirking. It was swept away when the troll lost it's valiant battle against the dragon, and it's pained shrieks echoed in the air. It warred with the predatory instinct inside of her, the one that licked it's lips and salivated at the realization that there was an abundance of blood to be drunk from the troll. She looked down when the troll screamed like a banshee when it was helplessly frozen limb by limb as jets of the frost breath collected on it's fur. It was sad, but she wasn't foolish enough to charge in. A sentiment the fire mage didn't share with her.

"Ashes!" Serana yelled.

No answer.

She groaned as she watched the small brash woman charge ahead, launching fireballs at the dragon. The brown wall and charcoal columns hiked up with renewed vengeance as the dust and smoke swirled again. The once grassy plains looked like snow from afar. She found it witless and foolhardy that Ashes would even go off fighting such a beast with no regard for herself, or the world around her apparently. It would be equally reckless for Serana to storm in in an attempt to help when she was more than likely to be caught in the crossfire and end up as collateral damage, with how the fire mage fought.

Who was she to think she could even take on a **dragon?** One thing Serana would give her credit for was how fearless she was. She may not be used to working with allies, but she had no choice now. Serana wasn't going to leave her to fight that beast on her own. It was pure lunacy and an unjust delusion on Ashes' part to believe, even if it was a fraction of hope and faith, that she could actually take this dragon down on her own.

Serana adjusted her sash and tightened the fabric over her nose. She sucked in one last lung full of fresh air and braved the coming storm, darting out from cover and relinquishing the ice's hold on her fingers. She gathered all the energy into her palm and held onto the strong thrum until the right moment arose.

Adrenaline soared when the dragon yipped, crashing down on the ground as the flames caught one of it's wings. Ashes narrowly dodged a swipe of the tail as she flipped backwards, nimble and graceful in her movements. It shattered some of the preconceptions the vampire had of her. It was a relief to find that as harebrained as Ashes came off, she thought well on her feet, and Serana fought in near-sync with the fire mage as they both laid a barrage of spells on the downed dragon. Serana moulded the cold energy into large ice spikes and fired at the beast's soft underbelly, where jets of blood sprayed when the spikes impaled and shredded through.

Ashes hurled rudimentary insults at the dragon, things that were unfortunately timeless no matter how many eras Serana would live through. She rolled her eyes when milk drinker and snowback were shouted with typical Nord pride, and she decided to reserve her energy when it became obvious the dragon was on death's door. It's intestines could be seen when the ice spikes melted from the searing heat of the fire mage's flames cracking the thick scales and webbed wings.

Didn't she see the soft underbelly? All she had to do was walk out to the side and she could go for the throat. Instead she expended more energy everywhere else. There was an impressive abundance of it, like a well with no ending. What Serana noticed disturbed her, and she created distance between them out of caution.

Ashes became more aggressive and ruthless. The pitiful sounds the dragon made called out to the predatory instinct inside Serana and she suffocated it immediately, but it seemed to encourage Ashes as she taunted the dying beast and had gone so far as to make it's last moments one of utter misery. She had gone up to the spilled intestines and set one of her hands on fire, sticking it inside the wound. The dragon howled, and it's massive paws whipped uselessly at the dirt in an attempt to push the mage out of there, but she had evaded again.

"Ashes. **Stop. **We've won. Let it die in peace, with dignity."

There was a sense of pride to be able to defeat this majestic creature, but there was no pride in these cruel games. Serana crossed her arms and did her best not to cough every time each breath in tickled her throat with ash. She needed to be stern. Ashes looked at her, and she had an almost dazed and confused expression.

What was most disturbing was how her eyes appeared feral, pupils in thin slits like the dragon's. The amber eyes, usually bright, were dark in their reflection of the ashes and smoke surrounding them. In one blink, the eyes returned to normal. Ashes stumbled away from the dragon and stared at it, then at the blood on her hands. Serana softened. She dropped her arms and watched the fire mage closely.

Suddenly, the dust kicked up and gusts whipped at the earth. Serana's head shot up to search the blotted and smoky sky, but there wasn't another dragon. When she looked down, she gasped. All that was left were bones. The fire mage was up at what was once the dragon's head, her cauterized hand on the snout. Her head was bowed, her eyes were closed. Strands of her thick raven hair were glued and soaked to her sweaty complexion, until she flicked her head back to whip it out of her face, brushing it back with her fingers. When her eyes opened, there was a second where they glowed intensely bright enough to hurt to look at, slitted again, and then it morphed back normally. There was something about her that was different. The aggression was gone, but there was an air about her that still screamed for caution.

"What just happened?" Serana mumbled.

She didn't dare approach any closer. She hid one hand behind her back and called on chilling energy just in case if she needed to incapacitate the fire mage in self-defence.

"I **stole** his soul." Ashes explained with a smile wreathed in shame. She rested her forehead against the bony snout and closed her eyes. "Akatosh has cursed me."

Serana tensed. "Cursed you? Why would one of the Aedric pantheon curse you?"

"Not a literal curse, I suppose. Everyone else calls it a blessing. Maybe it's a blessing to them." Ashes sucked in a long breath and sighed. "It's a curse to me."

The puzzle pieces slowly fell together. Nords were extremely proud of their tales and legends. There were some recorded in books of such a gift that Akatosh would bestow on the mortals he favoured, where their blood was imbued with that of a dragon's. The books made it sound so whimsical. The fire mage touted it as a curse rather than a gift.

"You said it yourself," Ashes murmured. She pushed off from the dragon and waved defeatedly at the landscape. "I've burned everything. I've caused more destruction than the dragon, and it's not the first time. Something overtakes me when I see them. I've..."

Ashes trailed off while she watched the smoke in the distance. Long painful seconds stretched between them in the silence, and in it, there were a thousand screams in the fire mage's posture. The atmosphere was thick with something heavier than all the smoke. Serana still practised caution even when she decided to approach and come up to stand beside Ashes. Her presence jilted something out. Something unfavourable.

"Don't you think your vampirism is a curse?"

If that hadn't sounded as an earnest question, Serana would have gone on the defensive. She peeked at the fire mage to clarify it wasn't meant as an attack. She quickly decided she didn't like that reminiscent haunted look in Ashes' eyes.

"I don't," Serana stated with resolution.

Amber eyes homed in on her like a hawk.

"Don't you feel bad when you destroy innocence?"

The vampire shook her head and shrugged. "I don't destroy innocence. I take great care not to."

Ashes stared. It grew tense and uncomfortable, whatever she was thinking, but it became worse when she stopped staring at Serana, and back at the ashen plains. The fire mage's whisper was so frail, and were it not for vampirism's boons to enhancing senses, it would've been missed. Serana wished it would've been. It made her heart sink when the final piece of the puzzle fell into place.

"You never have by accident?"

Serana didn't answer. She didn't need to. Actions spoke louder than words, and silence spoke louder than both. She knew the question wasn't for her. It told her everything when Ashes walked away, slumped in defeat, praying for forgiveness under her breath. Though they haven't known each other for long, it wasn't **her.** She needed to be loud and bright, offensively so. For once, Serana used their common ground of mistrust, and the hint of rivalry she was beginning to pick up, in hopes to take the fire mage's mind away from her own dug-in trench of toxic snakes.

"When I gave you your nickname, I didn't mean for you to literally live up to it, Ashes."

She smirked when Ashes flipped the finger over her shoulder.

And laughed when that finger was set aflame.


	4. Do Bad Well

**Chapter 4: Do Bad Well  
**

"Don't you think you should wear something before we go through the town?" Serana asked.

Ashes looked over her shoulder, confused. "What do you mean?"

Serana's cheeks heated up **for** the fire mage. She refused to answer and unravelled the sash around her, tossing it to Ashes. The vampire wasn't going to walk in the company of a woman who may as well have been in the nude. Rather than taking it in silence and with grace, Ashes grinned, and her teasing was written all over her face.

"I find it ironic that a vampire is embarrassed over a little bit of skin."

This was not the offensive loudness and brightness Serana wanted back.

"I'd hate to see what you think a lot of skin looks like," the vampire scoffed softly.

Ashes laughed and secured her sash back on her belt.

Morthal was a dreary and somewhat unimpressive town. At least the weather here was more suitable to travel, with thick clouds blocking the sun. Serana kept her composure and hadn't done anything that would call for attention, but didn't know whether she should distance herself from her travelling companion or not. As soon as they rolled into town, there were a lot of eyes on Ashes. Serana cast an illusion spell on herself to appear more humanoid among them. Something seemed to be off in this town. The villagers. Tension bubbled in Serana's shoulders and she wandered close to the fire mage, who gave her the side eye.

"You feel it too?" Ashes murmured.

Serana nodded.

The fire mage clicked her tongue. "We need time."

"Time? Why?"

Ashes flicked her head in a delicate shake. Her gaze centred on a lone slender individual in hooded robes that leaned against a porch post, staring at them. Serana could smell the fire mage's guard hiking up when the stranger pushed off the post, heading towards them. Hyper-vigilant, Ashes set her fist aflame and the vampire took a few safe steps back to subdue the queasiness that swallowed her stomach. The stranger held up her hands in a non-threatening display and chuckled.

"Ho there, friend, I mean no harm. **Not yet**."

A delicate, soft-spoken accent. Where did she hail from?

"I've a message for you."

The stranger pulled her hood back. A human with incredibly fair hair and skin more so than a Nord, but indistinguishable features like an elf. A Breton, Serana guessed. She felt sorry for the small woman. It was still unsure what era this was, but that the Breton's blood and features still bore striking resemblance to the elven slave masters must have been a terrible reminder every time the Breton looked in a mirror. Was the High King ever successful in his bid to free the long-tormented kinsmen of High Rock?

Ashes' flames fizzled into smoke in seconds, and her face lit up. Serana wasn't sure what to make of it when Ashes had charged to embrace the stranger, nearly knocking over the significantly smaller woman. The poor stranger's face was trapped in Ashes' arm pit. Not a place Serana envied. She forced herself to look away when there was an uncomfortable hollow feeling that plucked her nerves.

"It's good to see you again, Éclair!" Ashes yelled with glee.

Serana smiled even when she had to subdue her cringe over the fire mage's volume, something irritated passerbys didn't restrain themselves of over the public display. Loud and bright, offensively so, even when Ashes didn't mean to. It kind of made Serana wish that she could be as comfortable and unapologetic herself.

"And you as well, Am-"

The sudden cut off, and muffled surprise, pulled Serana's eyes back to the women. She didn't hide her frown when she saw how the fire mage had her hand over Éclair's mouth. The Breton's brows met in annoyance. Ashes' whisper hadn't gone undetected with the vampire's keen hearing.

"Ashes is my name."

"What? No it's not." Éclair muffled unwillingly into the fire mage's palm. "Have you contracted brain rot, or hit your head **again**?"

Éclair tried to pry off the Nord's hand but was unsuccessful, to which she hailed utter gibberish in her futile attempt to express her irritation. She rolled her eyes and caved in.

"How did you find me anyways?" Ashes asked.

Éclair's translucent eyes brightened. Her arm shot out the side to point in the distance. Ashes and Serana twisted to look, where the black sooty columns of thick smoke still blotted out the sky. Serana tried to recover before she chuckled. And failed. The fire mage gave her a dry look.

"Oh, yeah. Very funny," she sneered.

"I mean, it **is** kind of impossible to miss," the vampire teased back. "You may as well have marked where you were on the map."

"I figured you'd come here to recuperate after destroying the world," Éclair continued, still muffled.

She was freed and Ashes seemed to be second-guessing that kindness when Éclair's smirk was as big as could be, but within the boundaries of gracefulness. The more Serana read into this particular mortal, the easier it was to see that there was an opposite dynamic of sorts going on between the two women.

"Where is your travelling gear and sword?" Éclair inquired. "You had a lot more on you the last time we parted ways."

Last time. How long ago might this have been? Serana needed to keep her guard and illusion spell up, lest Ashes' friendly ties were weak. The vampire didn't need her true identity exposed for the town's mob to lynch her. She didn't think Ashes was the type to hug, though. Not the type to hug vampires perhaps. The fire mage laughed nervously and shrugged. Her, nervous?

"I maybe might have lost it all. And the sword broke on me." Ashes looked away and muttered. "It must've been weak metal."

"Try again. I believe you mean **you** made the sword weaker and broke it." Éclair sighed. "When are you going to learn? That costs coin, Am-"

Ashes' palm rushed back to cover her mouth with renewed vigour. Serana tried to belittle the sting and crossed her arms, looking away to watch the smoke in the distance.

"I've managed just fine."

Éclair let out a strangled grunt, and the two had a childish fight. Childish as predicted of Ashes. The Breton triumphed and pulled away.

"I get it, 'Ashes'. Now let's get that hot air out of your head. Come with me to the inn, let's get some real food in you. I've already rented a room so that we can talk in private."

"Is this about that message?" Ashes asked.

Éclair hadn't answered and waved for them to follow her. Serana wondered why there wasn't any suspicion or questions surrounding her presence, and she wasn't sure if she was looking to find out. She frowned at the town exit of which she should have continued to travel through. She had her own mission. It wouldn't hurt to stay and rest for a few minutes though. She wasn't really thrilled to return home. She was grateful when they'd entered the inn, for her energy hiked back up and made it easier to sustain her spell. There was less of a cloud over her head and the fog that encased her mind faded away.

Heads turned to them and Serana stiffened. She had to keep reminding herself that her illusion spell was up, and that they were staring for different reasons. She hid her grimace when drunken men openly yipped and leered at them. Ashes seemed to thrive on it, but in a different way. She flipped her finger and set it ablaze.

"Lay one finger on us and I promise I'll burn it right off," the fire mage grumbled.

Éclair chuckled, soft and reserved. It was a little hard to hear her. Something Serana sometimes wished with the fire mage.

"Ever the charmer."

"Don't deny that you're thinking it too!"

The Breton smiled slyly. "I would never be so rude and crude."

"Then your memory is short," Ashes huffed.

"Or your imagination is long. Come on, this way."

Something wasn't right. Though the Breton was small and unassuming, Serana's guard refused to ease. She knew better than to underestimate someone who put effort into being underestimated. This one harboured intelligence and her eyes were sharp, however gentle they appeared. That translucent colour made Serana feel like she was boarded off and looking at a mirror. When they entered a room, it was filled with many personal comforts and travelling supplies. Too much for one person to carry.

Éclair turned around with a subtle smirk tugging the corner of her mouth. Her gaze was fixated on Serana.

"You may relax and dispel your illusion spell, now."

Serana tensed. "I don't know what you're talking about."

"You may mistake me for my appearance, but not my ability. I can see you for what you really are." Éclair shrugged and bounced her head in Ashes' direction. "I don't trust my friend with herself, but I do trust her judgment. She would not be in the company of a vampire without good reason."

"It's alright," Ashes murmured.

Who she was saying that for was a mystery, for she had already gotten down to the business of helping herself to food and supplies.

Serana reluctantly dispelled her spell, but she kept close to the door just in case if this was a trap. She didn't trust them. She couldn't with an Elder Scroll strapped to her back.

"Right. To business now." Éclair opened a drawer and took out a thick rolled up parchment. "Your new orders."

"Should I be here?" Serana asked aloud. She didn't mean to.

Ashes shrugged. "I see no harm. You're new to this era and have yet to learn of the poison coursing the land."

"The poison?" Serana mouthed under her breath.

She didn't know what to do and felt awkward around Éclair, who acted as if it were everyday they had a friendly vampire hanging around. Serana tried to get a look at the seal of what appeared to be a missive when Ashes unrolled it. The fire mage sighed.

"The Thalmor will recognize me now, and you know how I am with infiltration. What is the General thinking? They'll call off the truce and march to war if they-"

"They don't know you're affiliated with the Empire," Éclair explained. "They only know you're affiliated with the Blades. And those two are enemies anyways."

Serana glanced at the fire mage. **This** woman was affiliated with whatever Empire ruled this era now? It was hard to imagine her as part of any kind of army when she didn't fight with any kind of discipline, but rather reckless abandon. Who were the Blades though? By the sounds of it, perhaps a special splinter group from the Empire, or a bunch of sellswords. It wouldn't make sense that they were a splintered group if Éclair made it sound as if they were separate. These 'Blades' could have been a little more creative with their name, but perhaps the vagueness of it all was meant to mislead people into interpreting what they would.

Ashes burned the missive in her hand. The pungent smell of burned parchment flooded the room, and Serana grimaced when it seared the insides of her nostrils.

"And if the Thalmor launch an attack on Skyhaven in retaliation?" Ashes asked.

"Then warn them so they may take precautionary measures. The General stressed the importance of this mission, and there is valuable intel that may turn the tide of the next war."

Serana leaned against the door with a frown. "War. As usual. I see nothing's changed since when I was last awake."

Éclair's sharp eyes fell on her, and there was that subtle smirk again. She wasn't going to fool the vampire with her sweet appearance anymore.

"And when might that be?"

"During High King Vrage's rule," Serana shrugged casually.

She wasn't sure what to make of the response she got when both womens' eyes widened in shock at her.

"The First Era?" Ashes almost choked on her whisper.

Serana was wary to ask, but it was high time to know and she was confident she'd get an answer from someone, if not Ashes.

"Yes. What era am I in now?"

"The Fourth," Éclair murmured. "You're over four thousand years old..." She looked at the fire mage. "Where did you find her?"

"I'm right here and I can speak for myself," Serana drawled. "I was locked in Dimhollow Crypt." She narrowed her eyes. "And it's my business as to why."

Nevermind the terrible blow she suffered upon learning how old she was. She was gone for a lot longer than mother planned. Over four thousand years? Had it really taken father that long to find her? Maybe there was hope yet that he has forgotten all about the prophecy then.

Ashes still looked stumped. Her jaw was dropped in a thoroughly amusing way. The rack of lamb hung uselessly in her hand. Éclair's rear found the bed. They wouldn't stop staring at Serana and she grew uncomfortable.

"Will you two stop looking at me like I'm some historical artifact?"

"But you are," Éclair blurted.

Ashes chuckled and playfully shoved the Breton by the shoulder. "Smooth. And you're always on my case for lacking tact?"

Colour splotched Éclair's pale cheeks and an apology crossed her face. It was so obvious she was buttering up because she saw a treasure trove of information in the vampire.

"Sorry, ah... Forgive me twice, I've not yet asked for your name, milady. Might I also humbly ask, have you ever met Ysgramor?"

The fire mage grinned when Serana groaned. "This is going to be a long day."

* * *

Educated to the point Serana's ears literally burned, she called it quits.

"That's enough history for today, thank you. I've a better grasp of the important events I've missed."

"There's no such thing as enough history to Éclair," Ashes teased.

She, for whatever reason, had a chef's hat resting over her eyes as she relaxed on one of the beds, ankles crossed, hands folded beneath her head. While she looked relaxed, the Breton looked the opposite.

"Don't get me wrong," Serana started. Her feet ached to be kicked up off the floor. "I love history too, and I love books, but this..."

"But there's so much history lost to interpretation!" Éclair enthused with grand hand gestures. "And not everything is recorded in the books, and some books have been lost or burned or-"

"Éclair," Ashes groaned. "We've had a long journey, and we still have a long way to go. Can't you pick her brains about it all tomorrow?"

"She's travelling with us?" Serana tried her best not to sound so exhausted by the idea itself.

The fire mage tipped the chef's hat up with her thumb, grinning. "Do I really need to answer that? I'll lend you advice: the only way to get rid of her now is if you kill her. And then set up wards or carry charms with you to make sure you keep her ghost at bay, or she'll haunt you for the rest of your life. I don't think that'd be fun for an immortal."

"I'm not **that** bad," Éclair huffed with a smile.

Serana was seriously considering the idea. The Breton's neck was looking tastier by the minute. Not something she'd admit out loud.

"If you two are heading to the coast, then I'll be along long enough until we reach Solitude," Éclair said. "General Tullius will be waiting for my report."

She came over and sat on the edge of the fire mage's bed and took off the chef's hat, holding it overhead. Ashes shot an annoyed look and reached to grab it, only for her wrist to be ensnared in a trap. Éclair frowned at the ghastly cauterized hole and tossed the hat aside. Even without saying anything, the fire mage rolled her eyes as if she knew what was coming.

"It's fine, Éclair," Ashes drawled.

The Breton looked over at Serana with that slippery sweet smile, as if it was hiding poison-coated fangs.

"Would you consider this as 'fine' if you treated your wounds like this, Serana?"

"Not at all."

Not like she needed to, with a vampire's boon in regeneration, but it was kind of Éclair to omit the fact in her roundabout way, even if it was just to prove something to Ashes.

"Oh, come on!" The fire mage groaned. Then grinned. "I've survived worse."

"Mm-hm. With the way you fight, that's not something to brag about." Éclair teased.

She cradled Ashes' hand in both of hers, where a gentle light pulsed in between the cracks of her fingers. The more this dynamic duo unravelled in front of Serana's eyes, the quicker she understood how such a pair could work. One was the dark horse, and the other the dainty flower. One relied on strength, the other relied on intellect. Serana couldn't help but wonder how much Bretons have grown over these past four thousand years, and whether or not they embraced their roots, even if it was steeped in cruelty at the hands of elves. Éclair kind of gave off the impression that she would be offended if she were to be asked something like that. Then again, she was friends with Ashes, who didn't seem apologetic by her lack of tact, among many other things.

"I vote we have some mead before we go to bed," Ashes said. She flexed her healed fist and, satisfied, beamed at her friend. "Thanks for looking out for me, as always."

Serana smiled when Éclair scoffed.

"Someone's got to, or else you'd be disfigured beyond recognition. Now, what's this about mead? You're too tired for history but you're not tired for drinks?"

"Is that a, what do you call it, those questions you already know the answer to?"

"Rhetorical question," the Breton drawled dryly.

"That's it!" Ashes beamed and snapped her fingers with the hand that was just healed.

Serana was positive that was just to irk the Breton some more. She shouldn't have, but she chuckled, and it enabled the grin plastered all over the fire mage's face.

"Quit bellyaching all over your face. I know you want to," Ashes prodded. She seemed to remember something, and she smiled sheepishly at Serana. "Uh, wanna join us?"

Serana gave a sort of half shrug. "I suppose." She poured her focus, which came a little easier now, to cast her illusion spell over herself again.

It wasn't like there was anything else she was going to do, though she kept her eye on the healthy stack of books of what she assumed was going to be Éclair's bed. For all the Breton's posturing as if she wasn't looking forward to the drinks, her actions said otherwise when she was the first to lead on the way out. Ashes shot a knowing smile over to the vampire and whispered, but it was one of those whispers that was more like loudly hissing words.

"She'll never admit it, but she's excited."

Éclair's hair snapped over her shoulder when she stuck her tongue out at the fire mage.

Despite having her guard up, Serana was significantly more relaxed now than alone with Ashes, and the friends provided entertainment. It called to the loneliness in the vampire though. She pushed it to the back of her mind and enjoyed their company now, for all that it was. She didn't sense any ulterior motives other than Éclair shooting those eyes at Serana as if she was a history book to be dissected and analyzed, chapter by chapter. The vampire wasn't ecstatic over the knowledge of her age but time had lost it's meaning long ago.

Ashes claimed a table and Éclair was the one to order their drinks, being the only one with coin. Serana stuck with the fire mage out of familiarity, and to avoid another round of questioning over what the Merethic Era was like. She was going to run out of answers soon enough before her lonely life would be unveiled and exposed, disappointing the Breton. It was out of Serana's hands.

A bard played a gentle song on the lute, and one of the bar maids swept along. Mugs thudded together as people chattered around them. Serana tried to ignore the way the fire mage fidgeted with her hands and drummed on the table, off-beat to the bard's song. The vampire crossed her arms and relaxed in her chair as comfortably as she could with the Elder Scroll wedged against her back, closing her eyes to tune in to the other sounds. Rain fell outside, muted as it whipped at what Serana remembered as old softwood splintered by weapons and weather.

"She's taking too long. I'll turn into a draugr by the time she comes back," Ashes' grumble pulled the vampire out of her mental tour.

Serana smiled to herself and said nothing. She looked around at the other patrons in the tavern when some conversations exploded with laughter. Her curiosity wondered what it must have been about and she tried to listen, but the rain picked up outside and thunder rumbled. The bard's lute was drowned out. People didn't seem to mind and still enjoyed themselves, perhaps a bit too much for some, and Serana wished she was anywhere but at that table with Ashes when nerves rustled over the fidgeting.

"So... You're pretty old."

Serana shot the fire mage a look. Ashes laughed nervously.

"I don't mean that in a bad way, of course. But... I mean, I can see Éclair has a good reason to be excited, I guess. How do you feel about it though?"

The vampire's brow hiked slightly. This path they were about to go on seemed intriguing.

"About what, specifically?"

They wouldn't get to travel that path. Éclair returned with a small keg and three mugs. Serana's refusal went unheard when Ashes cracked the keg open, her cheer thundering like the rumbles outside. The Breton's grace didn't last after a pint, and her flushed face made her look like a tomato compared to how pale her neck was. Serana caved in and helped herself to her drink, hiding her grimaces behind her mug when the bitter mead flooded her mouth. How did Ashes and Éclair enjoy this swill?

A man approached their table, and his reception wasn't friendly whatsoever. Within seconds, a fist was lit in fire, and a contained ball of sparks danced on Éclair's palm. Serana choked on her mead when she snorted with laughter over the way the man's eyes bulged, and he scurried away without a single word uttered between either party.

"You two sure know how to make friends," Serana teased.

Ashes grinned, drunken and sloppy. "We suck at being good. So we do bad well instead."

"Speak for yourself," Éclair scoffed with a soft smile.

"Oh? So what was that just now?" Ashes challenged, leaning forward as her grin grew.

"I introduced myself with polite hostility, in a delicate manner where he will never forget my name."

"Uh huh!"

Laughter exploded from the fire mage, and Serana shrunk in her seat with her smile to herself. She got to be part of a conversation with joy. Her curiosity was satisfied, and her amusement even more so. Éclair retained only some of her delicacy, but she was unravelling. Her robe fell open after she untied her belt and she unlaced the collar of her tunic. Even though the sparks dispersed, her fingers were still charged from it. Serana knew only because strands of the Breton's hair floated away when she propped a fist against the side of her head.

The thunder roared louder and there was a sharp crack in the sky. The tavern shook, and Ashes' shoulder pushed into Éclair, making her topple over in her chair until she fought back. She was overpowered, naturally, with her significantly smaller frame. That just wasn't fair. The underdog winning at anything was one of the vampire's favourite types of stories. Serana decided to lend a hand and pretended to drop her empty mug. She took aim at one of the chair legs and shot a sliver of ice at the corner of it to make it buckle away.

Ashes' yelp rang in the air and she fell over when the leg cracked off. Éclair burst in giggles, and Serana hid her smirk behind her mug. Ashes shot them both an indignant look when she climbed up on another chair, quickly narrowing her eyes on the vampire in suspicion. Serana played it calm and casual, void of all responsibility. It was perfectly reasonable for an old rickety chair to give out. Except she spotted shards of ice on the ground. The fire mage seemed somewhat obtuse, and she was drunk, so there was no way she'd figure it out.

Serana cried out and shot off the chair when it grew hot. So too did her cheeks from the embarrassing noise that came from her, and she glared when Ashes' fruity laughter exploded in the tavern again. The sounds were rich and contagious, and Serana doubled down on her effort to stop herself from smiling in reaction to it by biting her tongue. She spotted the tiny flame dancing in the palm and snapped her fingers to freeze the **fire** in it's place.

Ashes jumped in her skin, staring at the frozen flame in shock. Then her mischievous grin ignited to life and amber eyes zeroed in on the vampire with a silent challenge.

"Seems like Éclair and I aren't the only ones that do bad well."


	5. Echoes of War

**Chapter 5: Echoes of War  
**

Serana was most fortunate to be more than a fly on the wall. She smiled at Éclair's and Ashes' antics as the drunken women barrelled into their room, laughing at nothing. The Breton had fallen over her chosen bed in seconds. Ashes, for whatever reason, began to stretch her hips and her groin by squatting weirdly. Serana quietly closed the door and mused where she was supposed to go for the night so that the two could sleep this off in peace. Sleep that didn't seem like it'd be happening any time soon.

"You haven't changed a bit, Éclair. Still a lightweight as ever," Ashes teased. "You need to pack on more weight if you want keep up with me, since you've stopped growing taller the moment you were born."

"T'would be a shame if someone were to fry off that mouth of yours, you brute," Éclair shot back playfully. "It's unbecoming of a lady to drown herself in her tankard like you."

Serana shook her head and chuckled under her breath. She stole one of Éclair's books and made herself comfortable on the chair in the corner, supervising the mortals as if they were children. For the longest time, the vampire had managed to get by without being prodded by either of them, but when Ashes turned in her direction for the next stretch, Serana knew she was getting by on borrowed time with the mischief that ignited in those clouded amber eyes. A new target to tease. The vampire didn't know how she felt about that. To be happy would be masochistic of her, but this was better than the silence she was accustomed to before.

"Don't think about starting with me if you know what's good for you," Serana idly commented while she opened her book.

She lifted it to block her eyes, but lowered it slightly whenever she stole glances over the spine every now and then. Ashes didn't say anything, but she wore a smug grin the entire time she nonchalantly stretched her hips. What in the world was she even doing that for? It's like she was preparing for battle instead of bed.

"Aren't you a Nord?" Ashes asked, out of the blue.

Serana lowered her book with a confused look. Éclair came up on her elbow and twisted to look over at them. The vampire nodded warily, unsure of where this was going.

"A Nord never shies away from a challenge," Ashes' grin grew. "But you didn't even bother keeping up with us. Should I get you some milk, milk-drinker?"

Oblivion, take her. Serana had grown weary of these age-old insults long ago. Why couldn't have this been lost to time? That it survived over four thousand years was not promising that it would die out any time soon.

"Careful," Éclair warned while she flopped back on her bed, her giggles muffled in the pillow. "She'll drink your blood if you keep this up. I wouldn't mess with her."

That stung a little, but Serana pushed it aside. Odd as it was, she wanted to be 'messed' with. She didn't want her being a vampire to alienate her even more than she already was. At least she didn't feel any malicious intent backing those words and smirked at Ashes when the fire mage seemed to have some sort of realization and surprise dawning on her at that.

"Wise words." Serana returned to her book. "It's a relief one of you still has her wit."

"I have wit!" Ashes blurted. "I have lots of wit!"

Gods, she was so predictable. A typical Nord through and through. It was like taking a sweetroll from a baby.

Éclair laughed and shared a knowing look with Serana, who hid her smile behind her book. She nonchalantly leafed through the pages and pretended to read while the fire mage pranced about, trying to think of concrete and coherent examples of times she had displayed wit. Every single one of them had something to do with battle. She may have thought well on her feet, but with her wildly thrashing about with her energy like she had with the dragon, it came as no surprise that she had eventually won against her enemies.

Ashes blazed like a wildfire that seemed like it had no end in sight, and before long, Éclair had snored softly in her pillow. That she could sleep in this ruckus was nothing short of talent. Serana would spare a nod and make some eye contact every now and then to keep adding fuel to the fire, amused that the fire mage continued to take the bait. Ashes got down on the floor, feet pressed together as her knees fell apart in a butterfly stretch. Serana gave up on trying to figure out the reasoning behind a drunk woman's antics. She wondered what it was like to let loose and let the hair down like that, but she didn't trust herself in an intoxicated state when she was **hungry.**

"Serana?"

The vampire looked down between her arms and book, where Ashes casually rested her head at Serana's feet, looking upside down.

"What are you doing?" Serana chuckled. "I don't think I'm meant to understand you."

Ashes grinned. It wasn't mischievous or full of life like all the other ones she usually made, but it was warming and calming as if she was just happy to get the reaction she was getting. The fire mage hooked her hands on Serana's ankles, for whatever reason, and it didn't really come as a true shocker when Ashes pressed her legs together and lifted them straight up, then slowly lowered them down, and got in a few more reps of her random workout. Serana grimaced at the heat that seeped through the fabric of her pants and tried to move her ankles to try and pass a friendly hint. It was like shaking a dog off it's bite.

"Quit moving," Ashes grumbled. "Just a few more and I'll be done."

"At least cool your hands down a little," Serana grumbled back. "They're burning me."

They both shared annoyed looks with each other. Serana was pretty sure she was in the right here and was perfectly justified to be irritated with being used for a workout, which still came as no surprise. She hadn't known Ashes for long but from what she had seen, the woman was so typical and predictable. It was like stating fire was hot. It was obvious. What if she was being obvious on purpose, to hide something? Serana thought about that for a moment. It didn't take her long to reach a conclusion.

**No.**

Ashes hiding something was the equivalent of trying to hide a fire in the night. It was still glaringly obvious. The fire mage hadn't held herself back, and whatever orders Éclair had given her, had even made Ashes skeptical over what seemed to be some sort of infiltration mission. Serana smiled to herself as she envisioned sooty columns in the sky and buildings burning down in flames. Very sneaky.

"What are you smiling for?" Ashes grunted in between reps.

Serana quickly wiped it off. "I'm not. You're upside down so it just looks like one to you."

The vampire cursed herself. She tried to rest the book on her lap instead but Ashes just craned her neck out to the side with an indignant look.

"This is another example where I have wit," Ashes boasted. "And I can hold my alcohol. I'm not stupid. Why were you smiling?"

"I read something funny in the book," Serana blurted.

She kept her eyes fixed on said book, and she could just feel the amber ones all over her.

"Amongst the Draugr," Ashes read the title in a bored tone.

Serana winced.

"Mm-hm. Sounds like it would be filled with a lot of funny content. Your stomach must be aching from trying not to laugh," the fire mage continued dryly.

Ashes finally let go of the vampire's ankles and sat up, eyes narrowed with suspicion.

"Is it really so hard to say why you're smiling? Or should I be concerned that you're smiling because you're waiting for me to fall asleep so that you can drain me and Éclair?"

Serana's gaze snapped up in a flash of anger. "I wouldn't do that."

"How am I supposed to know and trust that, when you can't even tell me why you're smiling?"

"Because it's my business and I see no reason to-"

"Mara's breath," Éclair groaned, muffled in the pillow. Her blonde hair whipped up in a fury, sticking in amusing angles. She shot both of them a dirty look. "Might you two be so kind as to cease this bickering? We have a long day tomorrow."

"But-" Ashes started.

Éclair jabbed a finger in her direction. "**No.** She's right, first of all. And second of all, she was probably smiling because of you being ridiculous. Which you are."

"Am not!"

"Third of all, if you two have been travelling alone all this time, she would have drained you long ago if those were her intentions."

"Thank you," Serana groaned with relief.

Finally, someone that was on her side and not treating her like a monster.

"If you want to prove you have wit then start using it," Éclair finished harshly.

Something in the atmosphere changed, and the room boiled hot within seconds. It starved oxygen out and Serana choked trying to breathe. She thought it was cold for the Breton to lay it down so thick on a friend, but at least Ashes stopped with the accusations. The fire mage scoffed, and then the heat suddenly died when she bowed her head. She crossed her legs and mumbled.

"Sorry, Serana. I let my temper and trust get the better of me again."

Serana still didn't know what to make of this, and the dynamics of the duo were thrown out of sorts. She expected Ashes to blow up, not be like this. Perhaps Éclair was her superior officer in this Empire of theirs? The Breton's head made a noise when it roughly thudded on the straw pillow again, and the sheets were pulled up.

"Sorry for waking you, Éclair," Ashes murmured.

"Just..." Éclair sucked in a deep breath, then sighed. "Go to sleep already. We both have a lot of work ahead of us, and for the love of Mara, stop antagonizing Serana."

"Right." Ashes rose and, surprisingly submissive, crawled into bed without taking the pieces of her armour off. "Sorry again, Serana."

"It's fine, no need to apologize," the vampire heard herself say.

Why was the Breton on her side? The motives haven't made themselves clear. From the very start, she was friendly to Serana, and had stated she trusted the fire mage's judgment. Yet, even with Ashes tumbling in an argument, Éclair chose the vampire's side. It was nice that there was maturity and honesty, but there was a lingering instinct that whispered of an ulterior motive. Maybe the Breton was just buttering up to squeeze more history out of Serana.

She wouldn't get any answers, but all the snores. Serana sighed and kept to the books for the rest of the night.

* * *

Éclair quietly geared up when she woke. Serana offered a small smile when their eyes met, then invested herself in her book. The Breton pulled out small pieces of armour out from under her bed and strapped herself in them with practised speed, careful not to make too much noise. The way she stole many looks at Ashes seemed to be it was all for the fire mage's sake.

Minutes later, Éclair donned the robe to hide her armour. She tied her hair back in a ponytail and then went over to Ashes, gently shaking her awake. When the fire mage stirred, Éclair headed for the door.

"I'll go get Damian so we can split up our supplies. Start looking at what you think you'll need."

Damian? There was another person in this party? It explained the supplies, but Serana never noticed anyone watching them in the tavern, apart from the drunken leers.

"I don't need anything," Ashes muffled sleepily in her pillow. "I promise I'll be fine."

"Am-" Éclair stopped herself, a quick look cast the vampire's way.

Serana pretended not to see it with her eyes glued to her book.

"Ashes," the Breton conceded with a sigh. "Just take a bedroll, at least."

The fire mage groaned and twisted to look at her friend. "What are you or Dame going to sleep on, then?"

"We'll be issued another one once we report back in Solitude. Now stop arguing and get up."

"Ugh, such a taskmasker. You're a soldier through and through." The sarcastic tone was plain as day. "A real shining example for us all."

"T'would do you well to at least try to impersonate that example. I have no idea how you even made it through basic training camp with your blasé attitude."

"I don't know either. Don't remind me of that nightmare..."

Ashes groaned into her pillow. Éclair waited, sharing a quick small smile with Serana, when the fire mage tilted her head with all the subtlety she did not have to peek over with one eye. Ashes groaned even louder and shot up into sitting, her hair an utter mess with strands either pressed down flat or wavier than before. The fire mage sprung up into standing, fixed her sandals, and combed through the supplies in the room. As soon as Éclair left, Ashes dove back into bed.

Serana chuckled. "You're asking for trouble."

Ashes' head popped up with a daredevil smirk. "We'll be fine."

It was 'we' now, was it? They both better be fine.

"Éclair's just hungover and gets even fussier than what she's usually like. She won't pick on you, because she needs to be on your good side to milk you for more history."

The vampire shrugged. It wasn't her battle to fight. She just wanted to get going already. There were a few soft knocks on the door before Éclair invited herself in, and Serana caught glimpse of a man behind her before the door shut. The Breton crossed her arms and all Ashes did was grin.

"What? Problem?"

Éclair looked pleadingly at the vampire. "Would you mind if you took a bedroll with you?"

"Not at all," Serana laughed softly.

She had no intention of sharing that bedroll if Ashes ever asked. Let her hard head sleep where it belonged on the hard ground.

Éclair nodded and hoisted some supplies over to the bed to split it into different piles. She spoke over her shoulder without looking. "Pouvez-vous venir ici s'il vous plaît, Damian?"

What language was that?

The door opened and the man's sharp eyes landed on Serana first. He said nor did nothing, not a smile or a bob of the head as a greeting, stone-faced with the thousand-yard stare of a veteran soldier. He was formal and decisive in his movements, who worked in sync with Éclair as the Breton packed the supplies in their sacks for him to carry. Éclair smirked, and though Serana had no clue what was being said, the commanding tone made it obvious what was being talked about when she glanced over at the fire mage with Damian.

"La sortir du lit."

"I saw that look, I know you're asking him to do something to me!" Ashes threw the sheets over her head. "You'll never take me alive."

Ashes was obstinate as ever, up until Damian had gone over and swiped the sheets off of her. She laughed and turned, her feet up against his stomach to stop him from leaning over to grab her wrists. He shrugged and grabbed her ankles to drag her out of bed. Serana chuckled at the rambunctious display and wondered just how old the fire mage even was for her to be this energetic. The roots and years of their friendship began to show when even Damian cracked the subtlest smile as he wrestled Ashes off, with Éclair standing on the side with her hands on hips, shaking her head.

"We don't have time for this," Éclair sighed, but there was a smile in her voice. "General Tullius is expecting my report with all due haste, and you have your own mission."

At that, Ashes stopped play-fighting and had a grave look. It was hard to take her seriously when her legs were up in the air while the other half of her body was slumped on the ground. Her sash fell down on her face. Damian closed his eyes, but he seemed to have learned through past experiences that it would be unwise to relinquish his hold on the fire mage, even now.

"I have to help Serana get home first though, Éclair. I promised her."

Éclair arched a brow in the vampire's direction, who shrugged with her answer.

"I'm not really in any rush, and I'll be fine on my own. If your mission takes priority-"

"It doesn't," Ashes blurted.

"It does," Éclair corrected. Her sharp gaze settled on Serana. "Pardon my poor manners, but you will have to fend on your own. Her objective is of utmost importance."

If only she knew what was at stake, with the Elder Scroll on Serana's back. Why was it being ignored? Was Éclair just biding time and trust until she felt she could squeeze the truth out of the vampire?

Ashes blew the sash out of her face and frowned. She wiggled her ankles in Damian's hands and it seemed to be the signal the fight was over. He dropped her legs without care and she didn't seem to mind, bouncing up on her feet.

"Don't be rude, Éclair. To say hers is not as important isn't fair. And who are we to judge what is or isn't important? The Empire waited until you got this message to me, and the Empire can continue to wait until I complete my own duties first. I'm not a hound ready to bark on command."

"Your duty is to serve and protect Skyrim, and that doesn't change whether it's through the Empire or through the Blades. Serana is the one who is able to wait. This can't."

"How do you know if she can-"

"Because she just said she's not in a rush to go home," Éclair snapped impatiently. "You've always been big on keeping your word, yet now you're running from your sworn oath."

"I'm not running! I gave Serana my word **first**."

The women crossed their arms and the boiling atmosphere became electric. Damian silently excused himself as he took the sacks of supplies. Serana didn't know whether to follow or not, but she was, in a small way, involved in this. The vampire wondered how these two have survived the other with their tendency for their tempers to rise off one another as soon as they butted heads, but it was high time to be the cool head and sound reason. She set her book aside and cleared her throat with a cough to earn their attention.

"I can help," she offered. "It's the least I can do as my thanks for freeing me from the crypt, and helping me return home."

Though Éclair's eyes may have been hard to read, that split-second of suspicion hadn't gone unnoticed. Ashes just looked defeated. Her head hung and she waved her arms uselessly in surrender.

"Fine, I'll do it."

"It's not an optional duty," Éclair started.

Serana interrupted quickly. "I think we should get moving now. The sooner we get this done, the sooner we'll have a report."

Not that she cared for such a thing, truly, but something in her compelled her to help pull Ashes out of this mess. The fire mage still acted all mopey and had even gone so far as to take the travelling sack with their bedroll strapped to it. Éclair's surprised look and swift anger soon melted away into sympathy, and she laid a hesitant hand on Ashes' shoulder.

"Je suis désolé, mon amie. I am not thrilled about it either, but it must be done. Damian and I will travel ahead to avoid any spies that might be watching us. Be safe."

Éclair rose up on her toes to reach the fire mage's cheek, and gave a chaste kiss. Ashes' shoulders hiked up in tension and she sighed. She twisted and awkwardly embraced the Breton in a side-hug.

"Talos watch over you, Éclair."

"And you as well."

Éclair gave a nod towards Serana, who reciprocated. The Breton packed the books in her sack and left the room. Ashes heaved a long breath as she sat on the bed.

"Thanks for helping me get away from another lecture," she mumbled. "Éclair sure loves them..."

The fire mage wiped her hands up and down her face as if to try and rub the exhaustion and sombreness out.

"I hate war. I wish I never signed up for it."

"War is hell," Serana agreed quietly.

Ashes shook her head. "War isn't hell. War is war, and hell is hell. Of those two, war is worse. Who do you think goes to hell? Sinners, so there aren't any innocent bystanders in hell. War is full of them. Kids, cripples, the elderly, the carriage drivers and the messengers running missives just to make ends meet for their families. The innocent bystanders are the ones truly at war, in a fight to survive and not lose everything in the chaos. The soldiers just feel the echoes of it, in their minds, when it's over."

Serana wondered if Ashes was one such soldier, with how reluctant she was to follow through with whatever orders she had been given. The fire mage rose with a sigh and threaded a hand in her hair, shaking it to fix it before they embarked on their new journey and left the inn. Her energy had been sucked out of her, but at least she was still smiling and doing her weird thing with the vampire again, running away and coming back. She closed the distance a little more each time she came back though.

Maybe, just maybe, they were finally building the pieces of trust.

That loud and offensive brightness became as bleak as the dreary weather outside. Serana, for all she treasured being calm and reserved, liked the abrasiveness and their own little opposite dynamics of sorts. She hoped that one day they could be like any other friends in the tavern like how Ashes was last night with Éclair.

"Hey." Ashes nudged the vampire out of her thoughts. "I appreciate that you got me out of that bind with Éclair, but you don't actually have to do this with me, you know."

"It's fine. I meant it when I said it's my way of saying thanks for all that you've done for me, and continue to do."

The fire mage frowned. "You don't even know what you've volunteered for, how do you know we'll be alright? You don't owe the Empire anything."

"I'm not doing this for your Empire," Serana shrugged. "And I'm sure we'll be fine. Infiltration, was it?" She smirked proudly. "I happen to be pretty good at that."

For some reason, dread pooled in her stomach with the way Ashes grinned and chuckled to herself.

Ominous...

* * *

**French translation**

Pouvez-vous venir ici s'il vous plaît, Damian? - can you come in here please, Damian?

La sortir du lit - get her out of bed

Je suis désolé, mon amie - I am sorry, my friend

* * *

**Author's Note**

Thanks for all the followers and reviews! Did not expect to get it, hope my story will continue to be interesting even as torturous slow-burns are. I promise Ashes' name will be revealed in time. I will hint that the 'Am-' is just from Serana's perspective in terms of what she thinks from what she hears :)


	6. The Dynamic Duo

**Chapter 6: The Dynamic Duo**

Rain pelted down the open plains and collided into the earth like a crescendo of drums. The velocity and direction changed constantly, whipping at their faces. Serana was irritated with how her hair clung to her face and smothered her vision. She couldn't begin to imagine the frustration Ashes was going through.

"Water must be your best friend," Serana teased the fire mage.

Ashes raked her drenched hair back and smirked over her shoulder.

"This is quite refreshing actually. You, on the other hand, look like you've seen better days."

"Plenty," Serana grumbled. "The heavens disfavour me, it seems."

She plucked at her damp shirt and frowned at the sound of suction when it released from her skin. The rain had invaded her boots and the heavy clammy feeling was uncomfortable.

"Come on." Ashes pointed ahead, but it was hard to see anything but the washed out blurry plains. "I think I see a cave, we can take shelter in there. I'll dry us off."

Serana looked at the retreating mage's figure when she took off in a light jog.

"Dry us off? Not sure I like the sound of that..."

Nonetheless, the vampire picked up the pace and the massive open-mouthed cave soon came into view. As soon as they ran under the safety of the cave ceiling, their footsteps echoed louder than the rain crashing outside. Serana was right in not liking what she suspected. Ashes had set herself on literal fire to dry off her clothes, and her soaked hair looked as black as soot whilst she kept brushing it with steaming fingers. Serana tried to ignore the searing oxygen-suffocating heat that radiated even with a healthy distance between them and ventured deeper in the cave, shielding her face with her hand when bats rushed out like a plague of locusts.

Webs snagged at her. There was a noise deeper in the cave that called to her to be demystified, and she could have sworn she picked up the faint sounds of crashing water that painted the image of a waterfall rather than heavy downpour. A proper bath in a gorgeous setting would be welcome indeed. A giddy excitement coursed through her and she called out over her shoulder.

"I'm heading deeper in the cave, Ashes. I think I hear a waterfall."

"Wait for me!"

Feet pounded stone and the squelch of the fire mage's damp sandals brought an amused smile to Serana's face. She brushed her hair out her face and waited for the Nord to catch up, grimacing when a small flame burst in Ashes' palm. When the fire mage looked over, she smiled sheepishly and extinguished it.

"Sorry, I forgot fire isn't..." Ashes trailed off. She nodded towards the darkness ahead of them. "Waterfall, huh? I like the sound of that. I could use a proper bath."

"My thoughts exactly."

"What's worse, if I have fire in front of you or behind you?"

"Do I have to choose? They both sound the worst."

Serana sighed when Ashes rubbed her nape and chuckled nervously. The mortal looked around and squinted at things Serana could see clearly, and relented in defeat.

"Fine. Behind me. I'll take lead so I don't have to look at it, but keep your flame really small, please. The heat's unbearable and it's hard to breathe."

"Understood."

The fire mage settled a reasonable distance behind and waited until Serana faced forward before the flicker of heat burst in the large cavern, illuminating the walls and ceiling. Serana was surprised to find she hadn't seen things as clearly as she thought, and came closer to the walls. There were patches where it was rough and bumpy, and others where it looked as if it was chiselled smooth. Stalactites seemed as if they had been broken off.

"Are you seeing this?" Serana whispered.

She ran her hand over a smooth part, and she heard the way Ashes' lips popped as they became unstuck, the breath of a syllable turning into a gasp when there was a distant crash of rocks further within, and something reverberated in the chamber. They shared a look.

"What's worse is what we're hearing," Ashes murmured, her posture rigid and defensive.

There was a scuff of a foot, or feet, and they cringed sharply at the shrill of claws. Serana sucked in a noisy breath and held it when the echo of a long dragging swipe reached them. She tasted a sour tang of adrenaline and fear from the fire mage, and when she closed her eyes, smelled something charred and rotten as if there were a horde of decayed corpses.

"This is no ordinary cavern, Serana."

"Thank you for pointing out the obvious," she grumbled sarcastically. She rolled her eyes beneath her eyelids when the Nord's tone danced lightly.

"You're welcome. I'm heading in."

"What? You're-"

Serana brought her arm above eye-level to protect herself from the brighter burst of flames in both of Ashes' palms as she went ahead. Against instinct, the vampire rushed after her. Thankfully the fire extinguished, worryingly abruptly, and Serana saw why when she caught up. The cavern opened up more and it was a majestic sight that kindled the passion of her inner explorer, where what lied within was a wondrous grotto.

**With a dragon.**

"Stendarr smite me," Ashes cursed under her breath. "How has it made it's lair in here?"

"Explains why the walls are smooth," Serana mumbled. "At least it's keeping to itself in here, rather than terrorizing the locals."

As soon as such ridiculous words left her mouth, had she noticed the blood-spattered claws and smelled the pungent odour of burned flesh. She refused to look at the head that turned in her peripheral vision with a gaze that burned into the side of her face. She refused to acknowledge the sarcasm on Ashes' face. They both had wildly different ideas, and there was no mistaking what belonged to whom.

"We should slay the dragon."

"We should leave the dragon."

Serana rolled her eyes and gestured to the waterfall. "There isn't much room for you to fight, and if it throws you in the water, your flames will be useless."

"You're not going to help me fight?"

"Do you smell those burning bodies? I can't engage with a creature that will blind me or melt my skin just by breathing fire up at the ceiling. The heat will insulate in here."

"We can't just leave this beast be and allow it to continue to terrorize the locals, Serana. What if we bait it to come fight us outside?"

"It'll breathe fire as we're running out, and the rain will be worse than the waterfall." Serana looked behind her and tried to think of another solution. She couldn't come up with anything. "Either way, we're at a disadvantage." She looked back at Ashes. "We can't go rush-"

There was no Ashes.

Serana panicked and searched, where she found thick foliage rustling dramatically. The fire mage could not sneak worth to save her life, and once again she was rushing in despite the very transparent consequences that would become of this if they were to engage the beast. Serana quietly rushed ahead, keeping a close eye on the beast that curled in a ball and slept away, it's heavy snores vibrating throughout the entire cavern. She didn't bother squatting to hide in the foliage that came up to her hips, and she swatted it away when she accidentally kicked Ashes.

"Ow!"

"Keep it down!" Serana hissed. "What are you thinking?"

"Well I'm not running away," Ashes huffed with typical Nord pride. It made Serana want to roll her eyes to the next realm.

"We aren't running away. We are, or we were, thinking about how to attack the dragon in a **sensible **manner, one that boasts less risk of fatally injuring ourselves."

Despite the air of fear Serana could taste, there was a frightening bloodthirstiness that brewed in Ashes. The vampire grabbed her arm before she moved any further. The smile Ashes made was conflicting, like it was supposed to be reassuring, but instead came off as predatory. One blink, and the amber orbs changed. The pupils thinned into slits, and the irises glowed a fierce melody of oranges and golds. Her scent changed completely, like a hot scorching desert or dry grass wildfires. Serana knelt and grabbed Ashes' shoulder when the Nord took one too many glances in the dragon's direction.

"I understand what your blood is calling for, but you must resist it," the vampire whispered urgently. "Just think of it like... Like me, if it helps. I hear the call all the time, but I do not heed it."

"That dragon is a blight and must be killed," Ashes growled, but her eyes stopped travelling back to Serana's.

"It must, and it will be, but **not now. **This is your blood talking. Not you."

Glowing irises snapped to the vampire with a heated snarl. "What would you know of me?"

Serana didn't back down. "I know you don't enjoy war, humans and beasts alike."

Ashes' mouth opened.

And shut.

She looked back at the dragon. Serana squeezed the fire mage's shoulder. Ashes sighed and bowed her head, twisting to face the other direction while she sat.

"So what do you suggest we do? We can't take shelter here nor outside and wait until the rain passes. You were right in that it'll just breathe fire at us if we try to lure it ourselves."

Serana was unsettled to see that the bestial eyes remained. She tried not to stare too much and poured her focus in a plan, cautious to keep a closer eye on Ashes so that the woman did not simply wait for an opening to run off and engage the dragon anyways. Even if Ashes were to avoid the waterfall, it would be a shame if a fiery war exploded within here and turned this beautiful grotto into the fire mage's namesake. Serana's eyes fell on the charred corpses and the bones near the dragon's snout, and it gave her an idea.

"Our blood lures us. So let's use blood to lure it instead."

Serana unsheathed her dagger. A shiver ran through her when Ashes' predatory smile came back.

* * *

As soon as the rain stopped and Serana reluctantly allowed Ashes to dry her clothes in close proximity to a flaming aura, the two set to work. The first deer unfortunate to cross their path was slayed and it's carcass was dragged to the front of the cavern. Ashes stole the dagger right from Serana's scabbard and, as if it were some sort of poetic symbolism, ran the tip across the palm that was impaled. She squeezed her fist and left droplets of her blood on and around the carcass. They went to hide in the nearby brush and waited.

Nothing happened for a time, and Serana was fine with that. Ashes wasn't.

"When is it going to come out?"

"Just wait. It could still be sleeping. We-"

"Let's go wake it up then."

Typical of what one would expect from a woman who's personality was near identical to that of a flame, Ashes abandoned Serana and ran off into the cave. The vampire hung her head in her hands and sighed in defeat. It wasn't bad enough that they were actually going through with this insane plan of baiting a dragon, and to do so in broad daylight, but now Serana was stuck with someone who's attention span was shorter than that of a fly. She groaned when she could hear Ashes' faint curses among the scrambling of feet, and how it was coming back to the entrance. A guttural roar resonated after. Serana squinted and watched dejectedly as a large fireball flew out of the cave, far bigger than what she knew the mage could boast.

"Here we go again," Serana sighed as she rose.

She braced herself and gathered chilling energy in her hands, readying herself to lay a barrage of ice spikes down. Ashes tumbled out of the cavern and dove to the ground, covering her head as a pillar of flame shot out of the cavern. The dragon's growl shook the air, and Serana fired a siege of her spikes until she expelled every scrap of magicka housed in her body. Ashes rolled to safety, but the beast chased after her. She scrambled in panic and was able to heave the deer carcass into it's mouth when it's teeth snapped at her. She slashed at it's lip with the vampire's dagger and rolled underneath it's jaw, stabbing into the soft flesh of it's throat. The dragon shrieked in agony and swiped with it's paw to knock her out of the way.

Wrath exploded when Ashes collided in a fallen tree log, yelping on impact. Serana was forced to seek shelter in the shadows under trees to recuperate her strength, watching helplessly as the fire mage's spells had no effect on the dragon. Ashes kept trying to close the distance to rip the dagger out of the dragon's throat but it kept her at bay. At least it stopped it from breathing fire, or maybe it was too exhausted to, Serana didn't know. She took off her Elder Scroll and the pack with the bedroll to relieve the weight off of her, hiding the scroll in the hollow hole of a dead tree.

"Serana, where are you?!" Ashes yelled out.

"I'm coming!"

"No, keep your distance! It's fire will-"

"You don't need to worry about me."

Serana stayed on the dragon's tailside as it launched it's attacks with a fury of paw strikes and tail swipes. Ashes was nimble on her feet, using the abundance of trees to her advantage as a meat shield for the beast's claws. She continued, futilely, to launch fireball after fireball, cursing. Serana expended what little energy she regained with spikes of ice that chipped away at thick hide, unable to get in a good position long enough to strike at it's weaker spots. Then Ashes ran to her.

"What are you doing?!" Serana yelled.

"Drain my magicka."

Ashes took the vampire's hand and ran back into the cavern. Her statement caught Serana off guard, and she hissed her frustrations.

"Are you insane? Then you'll be weakened."

"You're the only one able to take down this beast." Ashes' laboured breaths betrayed her stamina for someone with an athletic figure. "I'll distract it. Use the waterfall."

"Use the-?"

Scrapes and rumbles followed after them as the dragon squeezed it's way into the cavern, deafening them. Serana was forced into overdrive when all she could think about was blood, not magicka, and the fire mage's bleeding palm lured her just as much as the furious beast coming after them. The hair on her neck rose and hot air suddenly rose. When she looked back, she looked into the jaws of hell as flame glowed at the end of the cavern. Ashes pushed and tumbled over her as soon as they entered the clearing, narrowly missing the fireball that soared inside and crashed into large stalagmites at the end of the grotto.

"Drain me," Ashes urged breathlessly.

She took Serana's hand and guided it to her neck. Her soul. Her pulsing artery flowing with hot blood that would burn Serana alive if she tried to drink it. She had to stay focused on that and treat it like a fact, even if it was a mystery if it would. She tightened her hold on the fire mage's neck and leeched the essence of the woman's magicka until she had gone pale and sickly in the face, and Ashes tore away before Serana could say she was done. They didn't have the luxury of time. Ashes ran out into the open and dodged another fireball that soared at her, though it was smaller and fizzled out when it crashed into the waterfall, sending water pelting out like rain. It made Serana look up, and the cave ceiling stalactites gave her an idea.

"Ashes! Lure it into the water and run to the edge as fast as you can to jump out!"

Serana rushed to the edge and stayed on the tailside as the fire mage launched petty attacks to enrage the beast, following her into the water. The vampire hovered her hands over the water and waited until Ashes was close to climbing out, then poured all of her energy into freezing the pond in a single burst, powered by the explosive essence that coursed in her veins courtesy of the fire mage. The dragon was stuck and wailed sorrowfully, as if mourning it's impending death.

Ashes ran back and dodged teeth as she slid under to grab the dagger and rip it out. The blood squirted out and sprayed the ice, and she continued to hack away at the jugular. Serana launched the last barrage of her ice spikes up at the stalactites in the ceiling until they looked as though they were going to break off any minute.

"Get out of there now!" Serana yelled.

The fire mage scrambled out and yelped when the dragon just barely nipped her calf, and the new wave of fresh blood flooded Serana's nose. Her fangs grew longer and she had to force herself back into her mantra where Ashes' blood would burn her alive. She focused on breaking the stalactites, and took a few steps back for safety herself as she watched them come flying down. The dragon's last wail came to an abrupt halt when the stalactites impaled it's head into the frozen pond, causing it to crack in a series of webs. It buckled under the weight of the head.

Winds at gale speeds thrashed inside the cavern, and Serana held her hair out of her face to study what exactly was happening to the dragon this time. It's flesh disintegrated as if it was nothing and she could sense the dragon's essence ripped out, disembodied, it's soul flocking towards Ashes. Serana panicked and jumped into action when she saw the fire mage on the ground. When she drew closer, she could hear the wheezy breaths, and the bestial eyes fluttered out of existence over time. Ashes smiled weakly at her.

"Looks like I'm not the only one who over-complicates things. You totally used what I did to the skeletons in your crypt as inspiration."

Serana huffed and crossed her arms, but couldn't stop herself from smiling back. "And what would have been the simpler way?"

"Freezing the water upwards to tear into it's belly."

"How is that simpler? And what makes you think I could even manipulate it to that degree?"

Ashes' smile turned into a smug smirk. "Because you've drained **my** magicka. Now you can do anything, because I can do anything."

What logic was that?

"Mm." Serana shrugged with refined attitude. "Too bad I didn't drain you of your arrogance while I was at it."

Rich laughter echoed in the cavern.

"Good thing you didn't drain me of my blood too."

Serana shook her head with a roll of her eyes, and she dragged the Nord up into standing with a playful threat. "Careful. There's still plenty of time for that yet."

It was her turn to smirk when Ashes laughed nervously, then ran out of the cavern with a suspicious burst of energy. Maybe threats like that weren't good for nurturing a healthy friendship. And maybe their partnership wasn't anything like the relationship between Ashes and Éclair, but Serana quite liked their version of being the dynamic duo they were learning to be through arduous battles like this.

She wondered what their version of being friends would be like, if Ashes ever relinquished her guard around the vampire.


	7. Stand By You

**Chapter 7: Stand By You  
**

Ashes took a break and sat on the log she was flung to by the dragon with this triumphant look like she conquered the dead tree. Typical cursed Nords. Serana shook her head with a smile and went to go retrieve where she hid her Elder Scroll and the bedroll. When she came back, she frowned with worry when the fire mage had her calf turned out, where blood ran down it from where the dragon nipped it. It was a sizable gash. Ashes gingerly ran her fingers over the laceration.

"We need to bandage that up," Serana started.

The rest of her words died in her throat when there were short bursts of hot and bright flashes beneath the fingers, travelling down the length of the gash until the wound was cauterized. Serana bit her tongue and remained where she was, looking away instead of the pain that screamed in Ashes' eyes, but not her face. The fool was stopping herself from expressing it.

"It's fine now," Ashes muttered. Her voice cracked and she coughed quickly to mask it.

"It's-" Serana stopped.

She knew better than to argue with a stubborn Nord. She walked closer and got a better look at Ashes' back, where dark bruises set in from the impact of the log. The fire mage looked over her shoulder but didn't seem to be able to see it.

"How bad is it?"

"You've got the colours of the rainbow on here," Serana grumbled dryly.

Her lips twitched with a smile when the fruity laughter rang in the air. She held her hand above the darkest bruise and chilled her fingers intensely enough to radiate the cold. She roved over the back, back and forth, and stole glimpses at the fire mage's face as Ashes' head slumped in relaxation.

"That feels nice," she mumbled. Her hands threaded in her hair to keep her head up. "Thanks..."

"Maybe we should go back in the cavern and camp for the day, maybe take that bath?" Serana asked hopefully. "Would you be able to melt that ice?"

"Mm-hm," Ashes nodded lazily.

Too lazily.

Mischievous, Serana burst with a bone-biting cold to wake the fire mage up instead, and it worked like a charm when she shot off the log with a yelp.

"Hey! What was that for?!"

"Can't have you falling asleep here," Serana smirked. "And I'm not carrying you." She took the lead back to the cavern. "Let's go."

Ashes groaned. "Ugh. **Wonderful.** I can see I was sorely mistaken to be relieved I got away from Éclair the taskmaster. Now I'm stuck with Serana the whip-master."

Serana chuckled. "I like the sound of that."

"You'll like the sound of anything that involves breaking my back," the fire mage grumbled.

"Well, someone's got to keep the workhorse motivated."

Serana simply smiled when she felt a twig hit the back of her head.

* * *

Ashes' energy was reinvigorated just by the sight of a challenge. She wore a raring grin and knelt by the edge of the frozen pond, igniting her fists. There was no way she was going to be able to melt this ice all in one strike. Serana didn't deny she was both curious and amused to see the fire mage flail and fail.

Instead of launching fireballs at the pond, which the vampire predicted, she watched as the flaming fists punched into the ice and cringed for Ashes, who's face was devoid of anything that wasn't pure concentration. The fire mage repeatedly punched in the same spot until her fists broke through and she fell forward, her arms stuck in the little holes she created. Serana laughed at the pitiful call.

"Help?"

"Oh, I don't know. I quite enjoy this view."

Ashes was awkward, the side of her face smushed against the ice. She looked at it like a challenge once more, and a little pink tongue glimpsed out the corner of her lip in concentration. Steam whisked away from her face. The ice didn't melt much by her head, and that stood as predicted. But Serana was caught off guard when, suddenly, the ice cracked like webs all throughout the entire pond. It appeared to thin. When pieces broke apart, intense steam squeezed between the cracks and chunks of ice.

"You heated up the water to melt the ice," Serana mused, amused and impressed as she came to the edge.

"Not everything needs to be destroyed to smithereens," Ashes stated proudly when she freed herself. She twisted with that triumphant grin of hers. "Told you I've got wit."

"That you do," the vampire chuckled.

While Ashes wasted no time to disrobe and jump in, Serana was, understandably, a little hesitant. She knelt by the edge and dipped her hand in the water, hissing when it scalded. She sighed when the fire mage didn't seem as though she would calm down any time soon and stop frolicking about in her prance of victory. Serana shed her belongings and called on her magic to coat her body in thick frost, which proved to be a nuisance to sustain when she dipped into the water. She reserved herself to a little corner to chill that area for herself. She frowned with distaste over Ashes' decisions to swim under or around the bones of the dragon.

"You're asking for trouble," Serana murmured. "That's going to shift and you'll suffer worse than a hand being impaled."

"I don't think anything or anyone can move this, except maybe like a powerful witch or something like that."

Serana closed her eyes and smiled when she subtly waved her hand to the side, and took delight in the panicked yelp that followed. Bones creaked, and curses followed Ashes when she frantically paddled away from the corpse before it crashed on top of her. The water rippled in powerful waves and brought forth the scalding areas to Serana, but it was well worth it, using her reserves to drop her temperature even more. She opened her eyes and smirked sweetly at Ashes, who blinked in disbelief at the bones of the torso now on it's side.

"I think I just moved it."

Ashes' eyes snapped to her, incredulous. The fire mage's mouth exploded in a grin as if she had silently accepted another challenge of some sort, and she swam over. She stopped suddenly and looked down at the water, dipping her hand in where it had been significantly chilled and broke apart the thin glacial layer coating the surface. Ashes looked back up at Serana and her grin hadn't faltered.

"I stand uncorrected." The fire mage jabbed a finger. "Powerful witch."

Serana chuckled. She laid her head and arms back on the edge as she closed her eyes, enjoying the sensation of water lapping against her. Her lips twitched when she felt droplets flicked at her face. Seriously, Ashes behaved as if silence and peace were killing her. It was baffling how someone who was capable of mass destruction could be so playful, to put it kindly.

Teeth chattering earned an eye to open, and then both did in surprise when the fire mage had invaded the chilled area. She came over to rest against the wall beside Serana. The tell-tale scent of Ashes' fear in the vampire's presence had ignited with a vengeance, as usual, but Serana ignored it. She did not expect the mortal to stop being nervous any time soon, but she still appreciated that Ashes continued to try despite all of that. Why?

"What are you doing?" Serana asked. "You're going to freeze like this."

"It's only fair after I heated the pond up too much for you. Besides, I'm curious."

Serana's brow arched, bewildered. "Curious about what?"

"How you can tolerate this cold."

Ashes sunk lower until the water covered her shoulders, her chin slapping the surface as she chattered even more. The vampire didn't know what to say other than to point out the obvious of why she could tolerate this temperature, and yet all she could do was stare in disbelief. Ashes turned **blue** in the lips, and she still managed to wear that wild child smile. Her teeth must have ached from how hard they chiselled away at each other.

"B-bes-sides, g-g-goo-ood-d for-for m-my ba-aa-aack."

Serana's head hung in defeat. "Someone save me."

* * *

Slabs of the deer from before, what little uncontaminated meat could be salvaged, were impaled on sticks and cooked by the campfire, courtesy of the one obvious mage responsible for sustaining it. Whenever Ashes wasn't looking, Serana snuck pieces that were still bloodied and sucked it out the thin threads of muscle. She couldn't hide what wasn't there anymore though.

"Hey, where did the meat go?"

Ashes plucked out the sticks that didn't have anything on them. She looked over at Serana, who was too slow to wipe the blood that dribbled down her chin.

"Oh... Right..."

Ashes didn't say anything else and worked on cutting more meat, then stared at the sticks. She suddenly threw them in the fire and got up, running away. Serana sighed. She couldn't help her true hunger, and she wasn't going to apologize for it either. It was a need she needed to sate just as how the fire mage needed to sate whatever she needed from dragons. It didn't make it sting any less though. Ashes was bound to rebuild her boundaries again, and the vampire already missed their slivers of playfulness. They were getting close to travelling on a good path.

A long leaf was thrust in her face. She leaned back in surprise and looked up at Ashes, who seemed nervous. The fire mage knelt with a shy smile and flattened the leaf down on the ground, then bounced up and tugged on the carcass' leg until it ripped free. She took the dagger and came back in front of Serana, slicing the fur off to score the meat. Then she held it out.

"H-here," Ashes mumbled, her gaze short and sheepish. She squeezed the meat until blood trickled out of the checkered cuts. "Maybe this will be better for you."

"Thanks..."

Serana accepted the leg. She waited for Ashes to leave, but she just sat there awkwardly. The vampire smiled and shot back the words she heard when they first dined together.

"It's weird to eat with you staring."

Ashes blinked. Her laughter exploded and echoed in the cavern. She nodded and pushed off the ground, heading to tend to what was left on the sticks.

Truth be told, the scoring made eating messier for Serana, but she would choose a better time to say so. She sank her fangs in the meat and angled it so what dribbled out the slits wouldn't stain her clothes, and drank as quietly as she could. She almost choked on her meal when Ashes' out of the blue question caught her off guard.

"We don't have to pretend to be friends anymore, right?"

The hurt was ignored as soon as it flared. Serana didn't stop eating and finished her meal first before she retracted her fangs, shielded her mouth with the leg, and wiped her lips. She didn't know what to say and shrugged. Ashes sat by the fire and hugged her legs to her chest, resting her chin on her knees.

"Because we are friends, right?"

Serana stared. "P-pardon?" She must have misheard. "Did you ask if we are friends?"

Ashes nodded. Maybe these were illusion tricks played on the mind. Serana set the leg down and held her palm in front of her face to summon arcane magic to dispel any such trickery. The fire mage lifted her head and watched with curiosity. Then she smirked.

"Now you know how I feel if it's hard for you to believe. Weird as you are, I'd like to think we are friends though."

"Weird as **I** am?" Serana sputtered. She shook her head. "That's **you**."

"I'm not the one eating raw meat and drinking it's blood."

"Th-that's because-!"

Flustered, Serana didn't know what to say. She felt her cheeks flame up when Ashes laughed at her.

"You should see the look on your face."

Serana took the leg and threw it at the fire mage.

* * *

"So what exactly are we expected to find in there?" Serana muttered as they approached a well-fortified stone complex. She glanced beside her.

Ashes' gaze seemed to snap from guard to guard. The thalmor were either paranoid, or had good reason to set up defences like this. The fire mage held out her arm to stop Serana when a ballista was craned to aim at them. Were the dwarves allied with them to lend their technology? The Empire of this era was at a significant disadvantage then.

"I don't know yet, we'll figure it out once we're inside." Ashes stole a sideways look. "I need you to trust me when we're in there. I'm going to try to negotiate with them."

"Negoti-?"

"Halt!" A gate guard shouted. Her crisp accent reminded Serana of Vingalmo, and she shuddered. "You are trespassing and we will not hesitate to fire!"

Ashes held up her hands in surrender.

"I am here to talk with the highest ranking officer of this compound. I have in my possession a valuable object that may prove beneficial to the thalmor."

A pause, and the guards looked at each other. The ballista was slowly cranked to aim away and the gate guard approached them with caution. Her eyes narrowed.

"You have some nerve approaching us, Dragonborn. Every agent is under strict orders to kill you on sight. Tell me: why should we disobey them?"

"I don't have to tell you anything. Bring me to your superior."

Sparks burst to life in the gate guard's palm and she snarled. "Do **not** play games with me, Dragonborn."

Serana hid her hand behind her to call on her frost magic. Ashes stepped closer to her and hid her arm behind her back as well, but crossed further enough to be able to grab the vampire's elbow, squeezing gently.

"What I have is sensitive intel and I am positive those higher ranking than you will appreciate my discretion in that I am not touting it to all lowly footsoldiers to hear."

The gate guard's eyes flashed with rage, but it simmered the moment they flickered to Serana. Fear stunk in the air that did not only belong to Ashes being close to her. The vampire neglected to cast an illusion spell to mask her appearance, but that became the least of her worries soon.

"I-is that... An Elder Scroll?" The gate guard asked.

"Yes," Ashes stated sternly. "And it's mine."

Serana stopped her eyes from snapping over when the fire mage's hand squeezed her elbow twice. She better know what she was doing.

There was a tense standstill, and the vampire's gaze honed in on every single thalmor agent visible. She caught sight of those hiding in shadows and nooks, where the tips of arrows poked out of slits in the building. If this went south, even she could not boast escaping unscathed. What had she gotten herself into? This was potentially just as dangerous, if not more, then what waited for her at home. She was beginning to have doubts, but she gave her word. She couldn't abandon Ashes now. She couldn't abandon her **friend.** If they were friends. Who was to say it wasn't a powerplay the fire mage made just to trick Serana to be a willing ally? It wouldn't be the first such political maneuver Serana had suffered thanks to the machinations of courtly intrigue.

"Are you going to bring me to your superior or not?" Ashes sighed impatiently. Her attitude jostled the gate guard.

"State your true purpose as to why you're approaching us. Why would you not go to the Blades with this?"

"I'm obviously here to spy on you," the fire mage confessed with a bored look.

It took all of Serana's willpower not to face palm or hiss at the woman for giving herself away.

"The Blades would not have the resources or power to unlock the secrets of an Elder Scroll," Ashes continued. "The Thalmor would. Any more than that, I am not at liberty to divulge to you. Take me to your superior or you can do a silly dance as you answer to them yourself why you turned away this opportunity."

"Turn away? What makes you think you would be leaving here alive?"

Heat stung at Serana's elbow, and the air became harder to breathe. She glanced over and saw Ashes growing frustrated. The vampire broke free and stepped forward.

"You can see what I am." Serana narrowed her eyes. "I belong to Skyrim's longest line and most powerful clan of vampires, daughter to the Lord Himself, and the clan is watching over us as we speak. The Elder Scroll is-" she shot a sarcastic look at Ashes. "-**m****ine**. Slaughter one vampire, me, and you'll lose this entire fortress within a fort night. You should be grateful we have not already done so already, and approach in peace." She held up her arm. "All I need to do is wave my hand and beasts that would terrify your nightmares will descend upon you all. I can just as easily charm your superior officer and turn you into my thrall as I can sit down to discuss the contents of this Elder Scroll." She smirked when the gate guard's stench steadily became worse, despite her stoic appearance of looking unfazed. "Now are there any more questions, or must I force my way in?"

"No, that's not necessary," the gate guard grumbled. "Very well, I see the benefits." Of not dying? "Follow me, I will bring you to the Commander at once. Stay your hand."

Everyone lowered their weapons when the gate guard circled her hand in the air. Ashes shot the vampire a look like she was both impressed and terrified. The way she stole glances around to see if there were other members of the clan about made Serana bite her tongue so that she hadn't laughed. She smirked until her cheeks ached when Ashes hesitantly came close, but still with enough distance, for her whisper to be heard.

"Does that mean you're... Royalty?"

"We'll discuss this after," Serana deflected and took lead. Her smile widened when Ashes actually walked beside her, her nervousness slowly melting away.

That, and her finally coming to terms, meant more than anything else in this moment.

"Nords aren't fair-weather friends. Regardless of who or what you are, Serana, I stand by you."


	8. The Obvious Spy

**Chapter 8: The Obvious Spy**

"Down this hall," the gate guard commanded. "Try to guard your unruly tongue and your wandering eyes, Dragonborn."

"Easy to do, since you're all ugly."

Serana put up a valiant effort not to roll her eyes, but that didn't mean she didn't shoot a glare over at the fire mage, who smirked when the guard sighed. Such a child. It wasn't the last such instance where Ashes brought out all the ammunition she had to fluster the guard with typical Nord insults and vulgarity, abnormally more so than ever, and it didn't take long for Serana to figure out that it was an act to mask the wandering eyes with the unruly tongue. The vampire kept a check on her own gaze since plenty of the Thalmor they had passed by had stared at her in the eyes, and the smell of fear gradually collected enough to drench the stench in the air. At least their attention on her gave Ashes the liberty to do whatever it was she was doing.

They passed by a hallway where the fire mage stopped. Serana caught the ends of an echo that sounded like a broken sobbing plea, and the crack of a whip that stopped it. She could feel the tension in Ashes' body the moment their shoulders accidentally brushed, and the scent of fiery fury exploded in that instant. Serana glanced over and saw how the amber orbs flashed bright for a second, where the pupils flickered between slits and orbs. She gently grabbed Ashes' forearm and had to call on a burst of frost magic to protect her hand from the intense heat that radiated from skin.

"Hey!" The guard barked. "You're supposed to follow!"

Ashes sucked in a breath. Her eyes connected to Serana's, who squeezed the fire mage's arm. A sigh.

"I'm not a hound," Ashes grumbled. "Bring your superior to us, someone competent. I'm heading down this way."

Sparks exploded in the guard's palm, and the fire mage retaliated by doing the same with flame. Serana wanted to bury her head in her hands and groan.

"**You will not,**" the guard growled through clenched teeth. "That area is off limits and for Thalmor Justiciars only."

"Then that's where I need to be," Ashes retorted. "They're the highest ranking of you, are they not? Stop playing games with me before I turn you into a snowback."

The fire mage slipped out of Serana's grip, and it wasn't a surprise when the ball of sparks was shot at the floor beside Ashes' feet as a warning. She whirled around with her second fist aflame, and in that moment, guards poured out from the other rooms with arrows aimed at them. Serana glared at the fire mage.

"This is my Elder Scroll, so I'm in charge. Not you. Extinguish your fire before I do it for you. We will follow and speak to whomever this guard will introduce us to."

"But-"

Serana held out her palm and called on a frosty mist. Ashes averted her eyes and scoffed. It was long stubborn seconds before her flames petered out of existence, where smoke was the only evidence left. Serana ignored the smug smirks on the Thalmor's faces, though they were wiped off and replaced with that putrid stench of fear when their gazes connected with the vampire. Good. They needed to establish a more powerful dynamic to ensure they weren't going to be crossed inside of here, now that they were out of sight of the fake clan not watching over them. The Thalmor needed to continue to fear her if they were to escape from here peacefully, and unscathed.

She still didn't know what they were looking for inside this fortress though.

The gate guard wisely withheld wisecracks and continued to lead down the hallway, and Serana stole many glances behind her alongside Ashes, to determine where the other Thalmor were and what they were doing with their weapons. The tension was boiling rapidly, and the air was being choked out by the body heat of the fire mage alone. Serana was wasting valuable magicka and energy trying to sustain a chill over her own personal space so that she could remain sharp and have a clear mind.

They were brought into a spacious room, where the gate guard gestured to the table that looked like it was the sight of a grisly interrogation once. The table itself may have looked innocently immaculate, but Serana could smell the blood that dried in between the cracks of the wood. She frowned with distaste over the fireplace that was the source of light in the room. It did not escape her mind that this was potentially a tactic of the guard's in order to hinder Serana.

"Take a seat, make yourself comfortable," the guard said with surprising politeness. "I will go report to the officer in charge and he will decide what to do next."

"Not decide what to do next. **Meet us,**" Ashes demanded.

"I cannot and will not order my superior because of the whims of the Dragonborn," the gate guard spat. "He will do what he decides to do. You will just have to wait."

With that, the gate guard left them. Serana quietly took her seat and positioned herself so that her back was to the fireplace. She kept an eye on the two hallways connected to this room and found it peculiar that no other guard had entered to keep watch over them. It was some time before the stubborn fire mage, who paced about in defiance and tinkered with insignificant inanimate objects, decided to sit down beside Serana. She grabbed the underside of her chair and wedged a bit of distance between them.

"What are you doing?" Ashes whispered.

"You're too hot," Serana grumbled. "You need to calm down and keep a level head. Do you even know what to do next? We can't get by with just thinking on our feet."

"Maybe you can't," the fire mage huffed with the tell-tale boastful tone of Nords that made Serana roll her eyes. **Hard.** Ashes chuckled. "Did you see your brain that time?"

Serana didn't bite the bait. She glanced around and used her nose to make sure they were still alone. She braced herself and grabbed her chair again to scoot closer.

"What is your plan, Ashes? You gave yourself away earlier by saying you're here to spy, so any attempt at asking questions to get information is going to be suspicious."

Silence. Serana took her gaze off the hallways and looked over at the fire mage, who wore a simple and serene smile that wasn't characteristic of her whatsoever. Before the vampire could press, she caught smells coming their way and created some distance between her and Ashes. Serana reluctantly took the Elder Scroll off and laid it out on the table but wrapped the carrying strap around her hand. She refused to part with it, no matter the circumstance. It was already pushing the envelope to allow the fire mage to use it as a pseudo-bargaining chip. Just to make sure there wasn't any room for misunderstanding, Serana muttered.

"The Elder Scroll is not going to be exchanged for information."

"No, it won't," Ashes murmured in agreement.

Their backs straightened and the fire mage neatly folded her hands on the table when the Thalmor entered. Serana stole a casual glance every now and then to observe the woman beside her, where plenty more things uncharacteristic of her could be read. It was as if the fire mage was a shrewd businesswoman instead, though her attire did little to cement the **illusion.**

"Dragonborn, how nice to see you again."

A Thalmor stepped forward and unveiled himself by pulling his hood down. What was strange about him was his beard and green eyes, whereas the other elves were clean-shaven and possessed either gold or amber eyes. Ashes stiffened and the room lost it's oxygen within a spark of a breath, and Serana reached under the table with a chilled hand on the fire mage's thigh.

"Rulindil," Ashes growled. Her eyes narrowed at the gate guard. "You brought your interrogator, not your commander."

"I'm the highest ranking officer in this complex, currently." Rulindil's voice was pompous and grating. He wore a smile reminiscent of a snake as he took his seat across from them. "How unfortunate for you that I had visited today to monitor the Justiciars' duties. And how coincidentally curious that we've crossed paths again. I'm intrigued, what story do you bring now, spy?" His gaze landed on Serana and his smile grew. "Does your partner know she will die like your last one?"

"I'm not here to spy," the fire mage ground out through clenched teeth. "I'm here in peace, with an offer that I believe would be beneficial to both the Thalmor and I."

Her folded hands changed colours from how hard she was squeezing them, and it brought no small amount of pleasure to the observant altmer, judging by his growing smile.

"The Elder Scroll," Rulindil gestured to it on the table. He reached, and Serana tugged it closer to her. He smiled at her, scrutinizing eyes picking her apart. His gaze snapped to Ashes. "What makes you think we would work with you, Dragonborn? First Emissary Elenwen gave explicit orders of bringing your head to her on a spike, and I would hate to disappoint the Ambassador."

"She'll just have to get used to it."

The fire mage grabbed the end of the Elder Scroll and glanced at Serana when she tightened her grip. She subtly shook her head. Rulindil laughed.

"It seems your partner isn't willing to die nor work with you, unlike... What was his name again? Malb-"

"I'm not here to play games with you," Ashes seethed. "This offer won't last forever. Take it or leave it."

Rulindil rested his elbows on the table and folded his hands in front of his mouth. "What do you want in exchange for our assistance, and what exactly are you offering with this Elder Scroll? To share it's information, or to relinquish it to our custody completely?"

"Share it's information," Serana blurted. She ignored the side-eye she got. "We've yet to uncover it's secrets. We know the Thalmor would have the knowledge and resources to do so."

"It sounds like we would be doing the majority of the work, then. What would stop us then, say, if we were to eliminate you both here right now? You've nothing to offer."

"Information on the Empire," Ashes stated. "As I told your gate guard, I'm obviously here to spy. But I have information more valuable than what I could give the Empire."

All eyes fell on her. Serana was tempted to take her hand off the fire mage's thigh when it had burned intensely through the sash and applied more chilling energy to combat it in a last ditch effort to make Ashes come to her senses. The vampire did her best to compose her expression when she looked over at Ashes. What in the world was this woman thinking? Correction: she wasn't thinking. She was digging herself a deeper hole and proving herself as untrustworthy to Thalmor with every breath she took. They were here, exposed, and factually had nothing to offer but the Elder Scroll, thanks to the lack of a well thought-out plan.

Rulindil's smile showed outside the corners of his knuckles. His hands fell on the table.

"Interesting. I'll ignore how you said you aren't here to spy a minute ago."

Yes. Contradiction typically happens when one **doesn't plan. **If looks could curse, Serana would have hexed Ashes' life and soul to the ends of time with her glare.

"What kind of information are we talking about?" Rulindil inquired.

"Troop movements, names of spies, hidden coffers of coin and weapons."

"Names of spies... Such as yourself?"

"Yes. I work with General Tullius as one of his top officers." Ashes' swallow was audible. The fire mage's throat was slowly growing red, flustered.

Serana was blank on ideas to get them out of this, and she still had no clue what in the world they were infiltrating this place for. Ashes was sabotaging herself. She wasn't kidding when she had exclaimed the insanity of her being chosen for a subterfuge mission. Reality crashed down at the nerve-grating sounds of Rulindil's laughter.

"**You,** one of the Empire's top operatives?" The gate guard asked incredulously. She exchanged smirks with the others. "Are all Nords imbeciles? I can't believe she's admitting this. Or that **she** is actually one of their officers. This will be an easy war for us to win."

"Yes, and it would be equally foolish for us to turn away such an opportunity," Rulindil stated aloud, as if telegraphing their intentions bore no consequence.

With Ashes' evident lack of wit, it really didn't.

"Turn away?" Ashes inquired.

Something in the atmosphere shifted. Serana's hand was gently pushed off from the fire mage's thigh, and the Elder Scroll was rolled off the table, into her lap. The Thalmor's jovialness died a second too late when Ashes' demeanour changed as well as her eyes, where her pupils shrunk into slits, and her teeth appeared sharper when she grinned with a noteable bloodthirstiness as she shot the gate guard's old question back.

"What makes you think you would be leaving here alive?"

The fireplace roared deafeningly and Serana was dragged off the chair, thrown on the ground. Ashes used her body to cover the vampire as something in the room exploded, and screams filled the halls. When the fire mage climbed off and tugged Serana up into standing, Ashes' sash was offered and forcefully wrapped around the vampire's mouth.

"Move!" Ashes yelled above the screaming and flames spreading rapidly, engulfing hay stacks and furniture.

"What are you doing?!" Serana shouted.

She was pushed back down the hallway from where they came and scrambled to strap the Elder Scroll to her. She tried to get a look at the insane woman shoving her from behind but wasn't given a chance. Fireballs were shot over her shoulder to hit the Thalmor Agents that came for them from the other end. The exits around them were being blocked, and heavy smoke clumped quickly.

"We need a plan! You're going to trap us and burn us alive, and this infiltration will be for nothing," she snapped, whirling around to grab Ashes by the shoulders.

Serana let out a jet of chilling energy to try and snap the fire mage out of it, and was confused to see that Ashes had actually appeared tranquil and lucid.

"Infiltration?" Ashes stared with a blank look as if she was confused, or a sudden onset of amnesia.

"Yes! You were supposed to find something in here, who knows what that even is... And instead of finding out, you're destroying it all! Have you lost your mind?"

"No." Ashes smiled. "I'm about to find and do what I was sent here for."

Serana's forehead scrunched in confusion. She didn't get a chance to ask and figure out what exactly what going on in the fire mage's mind when she was pushed down the hallway from where they had heard the echo of the broken sob. Ashes squeezed between the space of Serana and the wall to take lead and charged down, slinging her fire with a lot more control than she had demonstrated minutes earlier. She was able to create shapes, of sorts, where her flames stretched out from her arm and formed a majestic fiery hand, grabbing a Thalmor around the core to burn them and slam them on the ground.

How had she even known how to manipulate an element and give it physical attributes? Shouldn't it have passed through skin? This mission was a lot more eye-opening than all the days Serana had travelled with this woman, and it worried her to be learning all these things now, suddenly, situationally, rather than naturally.

There was more than what met the eye with this obvious spy.

They descended stairs, and the source of the sobs came to light. Serana froze in her tracks when there were cages everywhere, some holding multiple prisoners, dead or alive. There were torture devices everywhere, and the pieces of the puzzle fell into place when her gaze fell on shelves upon shelves of armour pieces emblazoned with the insignia of the gear Éclair hid beneath her robe. The Empire. These prisoners were **soldiers.**

"Where is the key?!" Ashes shouted to no one in particular.

A prisoner crawled to the cage and squeezed an arm through the bars, choking, voice weak and raspy from dehydration. "In that room... Justiciars...!"

"Just hold on a little longer, you're almost free!" Ashes yelled as she charged for the next room.

She yelped when the door had flown off it's hinges and slammed into her. The wood cracked, shattering from the forceful impact of a lightning bolt. Serana laid down a barrage of ice spikes to force the guards to take cover and give Ashes time to recover. The vampire rushed over and knelt by her side, connecting her hands with the cold stone of the fortress to erupt a wall of ice before them as a shield. She had buzzed with energy and adrenaline, never feeling more alive than now for the longest time than she had remembered, and they had fought a **dragon** for crying out loud!

Ashes' grin filled her peripheral vision, and the fire mage readied herself as she ignited her fists. They watched from beyond the ice as the distorted reflections of the enemy neared.

"I'm going to shatter this wall when they get closer. Do you think you can build another one in time to protect us and the prisoners from the ice that'll come back our way?"

Serana saved her strength and nodded. She rushed back a few steps and went to the cages, chilling the metal and using it as a conductor to spread the cold faster. As soon as Ashes began to sprint to her, the vampire called on the rest of her magicka and infused it in the bars to help her create a snap-freezing zone. The fire mage accidentally slammed into Serana as she pivoted sharply to throw her fireball at the first ice wall. Serana didn't wait to see what would happen and cast her spell to erupt another one for them and the prisoners. There was a symphony of screams of agony and a sharp series of sounds as if hundreds of vases were shattering against the floor. She had even felt specks of ice fall on her hair and grunted when she felt a forceful blow against the wall her essence was connected with.

Then silence fell, save for the roaring of flames coming from the floors above. Ashes poked out of the corner of the ice wall and gave the vampire a thumbs up, who dispelled it and nearly fell on her rump from exhaustion. She felt gross and coated in sweat, just like the fire mage, who instead of searching the bodies for the keys, had grabbed the bars and set her hands aflame. She grunted and pulled and pulled and pulled until the metal warped, and she squatted and she opened up the lower part so that the prisoners could squeeze through.

Serana had followed the fire mage's lead and instead snap-froze the bars, using the furniture to break them as she threw chairs. When they freed the prisoners, Ashes wordlessly charged on and cut through a bloody path. It was clear her energy was dwindling rapidly when she resorted to using the Thalmor's weapons against them and closed the distance, deflecting strikes to grab the hilts and change the angle for enemies to fall to their own blade. The prisoners that followed armed themselves and shouted rallying cries that drowned out everything else.

Her heart thundered along to their marching beat, and in the back of her mind, she wondered how none of them cried vampire or tried to slaughter her. Maybe it was their adrenaline that clouded them, but she wasn't going to stop to ask.

They fought their way outside, where they split up and dispersed as one by one they took off running in the general direction of Solitude, retreating from the overwhelming force that awaited them outside. It was Serana's turn to grab and drag Ashes to seek cover from the powerful ballistas, and though the fire mage continued to try and fight, slewing typical Nord insults, Serana gave her no pleasure to. It was clear Ashes was running on an empty tank when smoke came out of her hands instead of her flames, but she had used even that to her advantage as she grabbed shields or faces to melt them from her temperature.

It wasn't until Serana looked at her own hands in wonder how she hadn't melted from what should have felt like hot temperature, that she realized her hands were burned. Shock and panic almost overwhelmed her, and she called on what little magicka she had left to chill herself. She unravelled the sash on her face and used it to loop around Ashes' waist, tugging on her over and over again until the woman stumbled over her feet and fell.

"We have to go!" Serana yelled. "The others have escaped, we'll die here if we stay and fight with nothing!"

What she predicted would have been an entirely different fight with the fire mage hadn't come to pass. Ashes surprisingly looked and her and **listened,** and the Nord nodded, pointing in the direction of distant trees.

"There," she wheezed, exhausted. "Let's run to the forest and lose them there."

Ashes scrambled up to her feet, only to be taken down again when Serana dived for her to knock her out of the way of another ballista shot. They rolled down a hill, and got up as soon as they were able to, only for Serana to be the one taken down when Ashes dove for her, and they rolled down the rest of the way.

It felt like they ran for ages, crashing into trees out of fatigue and stumbling over twigs. When Ashes collapsed in exhaustion, gulping for air, Serana came back to her and laid down beside her. Her body buzzed, her mind spun. She tried to process everything that had just happened, staring at the branches in a daze.

"We need to rest," Ashes coughed in between wheezes. "Then we have to go back to eliminate them."

"But-"

"They know I'm with the Empire now. There can be no survivors or the Thalmor will nullify the White-Gold Concordat and march to war with the Empire."

"The ones that knew you're with the Empire are dead, Ashes. There's no way they survived that when you set everything on fire. If the flames don't get them, the smoke will."

Ashes chewed the corner of her lip. Her head lulled away. "_Fuck._"

Serana frowned. She pushed herself up on her elbow to get a good look at the fire mage's face. "I would be more worried about what this General of yours is going to think when he finds out you failed your mission and did the complete opposite of what he asked for."

Weak laughter danced in the air. Ashes tiredly rolled over to her and shook her head. She gestured to the vampire's bedroll.

"Let's set that up before we pass out here. And I didn't do the complete opposite of what General Tullius asked for. I did exactly what he wanted me to do."

"What? Did you hit your head back there? I'm certain Éclair gave you orders to infiltrate, not destroy."

"Ah, but that's the thing." Ashes' grin exploded to life. "If you remember... I said that they, or at least for sure Éclair, know how I am with infiltration. As soon as I heard that plea echo when we walked down the hallway, I knew what I was sent there for. That was my mission. To free the prisoners and burn that decrepit place to the ground."

Ashes shifted closer and reached over Serana's waist to help herself to the bedroll, burning one side of the strap off to relinquish it's hold. Ashes lazily set up the bedroll and didn't even bother going inside of it, nor asked if the vampire wanted in.

Selfish hoarder. She was the one that said she didn't need one. Serana was stuck on the marvel of the fire mage's thought process, as well as the Empire's. It was sly, but why hadn't they just told her up front that freeing the prisoners and destroying the fortress was her true mission?

Unless... Maybe Ashes wasn't the only obvious spy.

Serana didn't have the heart to ask.


	9. Guess My Name

**Chapter 9: Guess My Name  
**

Warmth seeped into pores and sent tingles across Serana's scalp, making her hair stand. She groaned when she rolled on her side, squinting at the calm campfire, and held her hand above her brow to shield her eyes from the light. Earthy fungus flooded her nostrils and she realized she had passed out without the bedroll.

"Good eve," came the playful whisper.

Serana looked up at the source of the voice. She was met with a smile when Ashes pushed herself into sitting on the bedroll that **should** have been occupied by the vampire.

"How are you feeling?" Ashes asked. "I hope you don't mind, but I took a closer look at you and you've suffered some injuries."

"I did?" Serana sat up and checked herself, but found nothing. An occasional rip in her shirt and trousers that were of little concern. "I must have healed already, then."

"Handy trick," the fire mage scoffed lightheartedly.

Upon closer inspection, Ashes showed she wasn't so lucky. She had leaves stuck over her limbs that had dried blood crusted outside the vicinity of the leaves. Serana rose and steeled herself from the revolting warmth that would slither over her when she came close to Ashes, who was unbearably close to the campfire. The vampire knelt and took it upon herself to peel away the leaves. A hand slapped over her wrist and the stench of fear had overridden the fungus glued inside her nose. She didn't need to look, but she had, and the amber orbs were hard to see with how dilated Ashes' pupils were.

"I'm not going to do anything to you," Serana murmured gently.

"Then what are you doing?"

Ashes sounded and looked suspicious. Her eyes narrowed, her muscles quivered the slightest bit. Serana sighed and rocked back on her heels so that she stopped towering over the shorter Nord. At least a flame hadn't exploded in the fire mage's palm as a warning.

"I would hope you've already figured out that I won't hurt you, Ashes. If I wanted to, I've had plenty of chances."

"That's not comforting," Ashes grumbled. Her gaze and hand fell. "I know you won't."

"Then...?"

Ashes averted her eyes to the flames, pupils shrinking in the light. The hues of browns, caramel and chocolate and near-coal, swam together and ignited in a fierce gold from the firelight. She sighed and rolled back, then onto her other side for room to stand up, or room to wedge in between them. The fire mage coaxed a hand through her dishevelled hair and gave a lame shrug. She said nothing and peeled the leaves off her wounds with a hiss.

"Don't-" Serana started.

She was too late and grimaced, turning around to shield her eyes from the furiously white-hot bursts of fiery light when the fire mage cauterized her wounds. Ashes suppressed her pain and the most that broke from her were grunts. She was left breathless and gasping quick quiet gulps by the time she finished. Twigs crunched beneath her feet when she left beyond the barrier of light and disappeared in the shadows of dark tree trunks.

Serana sighed and looked up, studying the patchy sky and stars glimpsed through tree breaks. Her keen hearing and ability to see in the night helped her watch the figure that thought she was safe from such scrutiny. The vampire frowned when she smelled salt and heard a stifled sob, before a harsh suck of breath and a muttered pep talk. Why Ashes felt the foolish need to mask or belittle agony was beyond Serana's comprehension, but it was not a comforting thought that Nords, to this day, were still so bloody stubborn and persistent to portray an image of resilience, even when it was understandable to fall apart during moments like these.

Ashes lumbered back with a tough and proud posture, and a warm grin that betrayed what Serana heard a few seconds ago. She didn't say anything and smiled back.

"Are you hungry? If you are, I'll hunt for us, otherwise I'd like to pack up our gear and get moving."

Gear. She said that as if she had agreed to accepting supplies.

"In the night?" Serana asked curiously. "That's... Are you sure?"

Ashes shrugged. "I'm fine with it. Luck have it, most creatures of the night hate fire." She smirked, little flame dancing in her palm. "And I happen to know a thing or two about it."

Serana chuckled. She went to roll up her bedroll, and was relieved when the campfire extinguished. Ashes had been a smartass about it, gently blowing and pretending that was all it took to douse it. The vampire rolled her eyes but refused to take the bait. Her cheeks hurt from stopping herself from smiling when Ashes continued to be coy with her damn grin.

"Quite the talent you have there," Serana teased dryly. "Being smart with your face."

"Not all this face can do," Ashes shot back.

Serana felt a jolt of heat flush her cheeks for just a second, and frost magic instinctively flared to keep cool. Vampiric impulses took that statement down a terribly wrong path and she forced herself back onto the right one, just like every other impulse she had to control. She crossed her arms and smirked at the cocky fire mage.

"I'll say. Getting punched in the face sounds like a real skill."

Fruity laughter sounded as crisp as how the cool air felt against Serana's cheeks. She smiled and directed her attention to the moon that shone through the lattice of leaves. Her appreciation was cut short when twigs broke and dry detritus was disturbed, with a stark spike in the smell of fear. She didn't need to glance to know that Ashes was trying to approach her. Serana combed her fingers through her hair, finding the braids had unravelled, and made a mental note to fix them later. There was something she needed to fix right now.

"There's something more that unsettles you, something that goes beyond me easing your fear that I'm not like other vampires."

Serana turned to confront the fire mage straight on, and it seemed that Ashes had a similar idea. Her hand was stretched out, and she panicked when the vampire's eyes settled on hers, retracting her hand by pretending to scratch her neck with a gods-awful fake laugh. It died suddenly when an amber eye peeked to see if it was bought. Ashes smiled shyly and gave a meek shrug.

"I apologize if it aggravates you. Truth be told, I studied fire magic for the sole purpose of destroying vampires. I don't think it needs to be said that you've gotten a taste of my..." Ashes rubbed her shoulder. She looked at the ground as she groped for words. "Long story short, the first time I encountered one was not pleasant. Because of that, I've made it my mission to... Well. You know now. It's odd to be friends with a vampire. I don't know what to do, or say, or how to express gratitude."

Serana's brow arched. "Gratitude?"

Ashes shrugged sheepishly again.

The vampire stared, processing the information as much as her feelings towards it all. She didn't deny the bite of anger, but she didn't deny that she had expected something to this degree. She walked right up to the fire mage and ignored the way the stench of fear grew stronger.

"Do it as you would with Éclair, Ashes. You asked yourself if we're friends and affirmed as such. I should hope that remains the same. I'm just like you, just... With sharper teeth."

Ashes' mouth broke out in a smirk, lopsided to thumb at the canine that poked out. "You sure? Being the Dragonborn's given me a set that could rival yours, I bet."

Serana rolled her eyes. "Stop making everything a challenge. The point is... I'm like you. We both have our impulses. We both do our best to control them so innocents remain safe."

"Why would you be willing to become a vampire, then? Even you cannot deny that your very existence as one is a threat to innocents."

That stopped Serana. Her throat tightened, and all she could manage was a small smile she hadn't meant. She couldn't bring herself to answer. She went to get the bedroll instead, and with the carrying strap burned, she tossed it over at Ashes as her burden to carry, especially if she used it. She rose her brow when the fire mage groaned and huffed, but was wise enough to know not to complain out loud about it.

They worked in synchronous silence and embarked to find their way out of the forest. Side by side, Serana felt the stolen glances, and stole some of her own. Ashes smelled nervous more so than afraid now, and she looked every bit uncomfortable as if she was dying to say something, and thus Serana died to hear. She had her guesses, and imagination was never kind to her. Eventually, she caught movement in her peripheral vision, movement she caught earlier. Ashes rose her hand. The vampire took care to keep her gaze forward so that the hand wouldn't dive back into hiding and pretending.

That touch on her shoulder, that gentle squeeze, had meant more to her than many things in the entirety of her life. It brought her mind back and made her crave the familiarity and comfort of her mother's hug, or her father's praise. They were memories so far faded that it made her wonder if she was jaded, conjuring illusions she **wished** were memories. Her heart teetered to the edge at Ashes' whisper.

"I'm sorry, that was callous and presumptuous of me." These words weren't typical of her. Her nordic accent would sound airy with them too. "And you're right, about us and our impulses. We're both equally dangerous to people if we're not careful, and I apologize for before when I had acted as if you were the only one. I'll do my best to..."

Not be afraid.

"Not be so hostile to you. It's a bit of a habit though, so it'll take time."

Serana wanted to laugh, and bit it back in time. She knew that was the best she was going to get from a proud Nord. That was fine. She knew what the fire mage truly meant, even if she wasn't ready to admit it out loud.

Yet.

* * *

Stars decorated the night sky and flowed like the sea. Serana couldn't stop marvelling it's beauty, grateful that it wasn't a cloudy night. The moon was unimpeded and lit their path, reflecting off of the snowy patches along the cobblestone road. She checked often on the fire mage, who hadn't shivered the least bit. Her exposed limbs appeared as though light steam whisked away from her skin, but what bothered Serana most were the crudely cauterized wounds. They looked more as if someone tried to brand the Nord with a sword.

"Beautiful night out," Ashes whispered with a sense of awe that almost sounded weird coming out of her mouth.

But natural. Her appreciation reflected in her eyes, where the stars looked like specks in her irises and made them glow in breathtaking colours.

Serana smiled and playfully elbowed the fire mage. "Care to keep it that way. Find something else to burn."

Ashes chuckled warmly. "I don't do it on purpose." She caught the disbelieving side-look and smirked. "Usually. The fortress was a different story."

"Mm." Serana reached back and grabbed her Elder Scroll to remind herself it was still with her. "I wonder if the soldiers made it out okay?"

"Veteran Legionnaires never waste a second chance, we're all trained to learn from our first mistake so that it'll be our last."

"Waiting to see when you'll learn to stop setting everything on fire."

Ashes grinned at her. "Ever since I said we're friends, you've stopped rolling your eyes at me."

Did she? Serana remembered quite a few instances at the fortress.

"But that's because you've also stopped holding things back."

Hm. There was reasonable cause and correlation there.

"What are friends for?" Serana teased dryly.

She filched a sideways look, wondering how far the blood of their friendship ran. Blood. That needed to be eradicated from the vampire's vocabulary before her impulses brainstormed **ideas.** She was caught in her next glance, but didn't shy away the way the fire mage did. It didn't suit her, and at the same time did. These pockets of moments where she wasn't brash and brazen, but quiet and sheepish. Humility. It was an odd thing coming from such a proud Nord. Maybe that was just a front. Maybe there was a chance for another front to be broken.

"When will I find out what your real name is?" Serana inquired aloud while she looked at the stars, pretending to muse out loud. "Does it come with strings attached?"

Eyes burned holes in her. She crashed into the fire mage who jumped out in front of her and grunted on impact. Serana rose her eyebrow and scowled a little.

"You can find out any time," Ashes beamed.

For some reason, somehow, that irked the vampire instead. She wasn't sure if it was the mischief hiding behind the smugness of the smile, or if it was the positivity radiating from words that bounced, or if it was the way the amber orbs danced and proved Ashes thought she was being so witty and clever. The fire mage had a spring in her step that added fuel to the fire.

"And the only string that comes attached is..."

Ashes bounced back and knelt, ripping grass out until she had a sizable dirt patch. She drew something in it, where it looked like what could have been a man hanging from a tree. She grinned devilishly at Serana.

"The noose around his neck. Each guess you get wrong, I draw a limb on stickman. Get all limbs and you lose your guessing privileges for the day, and you can try again tomorrow." She erased the body and kept the string off the tree. "Go on now, what's my name?"

"That's not how this works!" Serana blurted, flustered.

Her nails bit her biceps and she stewed silently in her frustration, while her brain worked overtime as to what **might** have been Ashes' name.

"Do I get a hint at least?"

"Your only hint is what Éclair started to say, back in Morthal."

"What if I didn't hear or pay attention?"

It wasn't true. Serana remembered very well that Éclair had started to say 'Am', but she needed to buy herself time to brainstorm ideas.

Ashes shrugged. "That's your own fault then. As they taught in basic training camp: always pay attention to your surroundings and eavesdrop on your companions."

Serana's face fell flat. "You just made that up."

The fire mage's grin brightened the night with her teeth. She tapped the noose engraved in the dirt.

"Scared?"

This bait would not work. It would take a lot more than that to provoke Serana. It would **not** work. It-

"This will be easy," Serana huffed.

"Ooh! Your confidence is fun to watch, but your arrogance is on a whole other level." Ashes teased with a laugh.

"Amelia."

A head was drawn. Oblivion take this woman, she was serious about her stupid game.

"Ameneca."

The torso.

"Amnia."

An arm.

Serana slowed down. She hugged herself tighter and idly grabbed her chin in thought, pacing subtly by shifting her weight from leg to leg. She did her best to ignore the grin that grew on Ashes' face with every wrong guess. Her brows raised in exaggerated curiosity, then bounced playfully. The woman's talent for getting punched in the face would show soon enough, if she continued to taunt and mock with it too.

"Amara."

Another arm. Serana bit the tip of her thumb to withhold her curse.

"Amaryllis."

Ashes burst out laughing. "Do I look or act like a flower?! I'm going to go out on a limb here-" she tapped her stick figure to decorate her terrible joke. "And say that was a tease."

"Of course," the vampire forced the tease she did not mean in her voice. "Ambriel."

The fire mage's face flickered. **Finally.** Serana had this one!

A leg.

"What?!"

"Last guess," Ashes smirked. "Choose wisely."

The vampire suffocated her groan. She refused to give that pleasure to the cocky woman.

"Just one hint?" Serana asked.

It was to buy time again. She knew she was getting warmer, that second Ashes' face changed. Or maybe it was a wince. Serana wouldn't want to be called Ambriel.

"That hint will cost you your last leg," Ashes shrugged. "And I'll give it. But if you lose tomorrow's game, you'll never find out my name. Are you willing to take that risk?"

Confident, Serana nodded. The fire mage, whom she predicted would explode with excitement like an energetic flame, was curiously subdued with her reaction. She had that shy smile again, one that exuded comfort, and Serana didn't want it to leave. It did not flaunt it's strength, but it demanded respect. It was beautiful, and had potential. The low buttery voice that followed fit it perfectly, lacking mischief and mockery. It was, in it's truest essence, warmth that did not burn Serana, and commanded her to gravitate towards it instead.

"It's very much closely related to the name you gave me: Ashes."

Serana stared, speechless with the hundreds of more ideas that flooded her brain. It had something to do with fire. Of course it had something to do with fire, if she was a fire mage. What was peculiar was that a Nord family, who, by judging Ashes' penchant for boasts and insults, was the stereotypical Nordic family Serana was accustomed to, and they had named this young woman something fiery when Nords would sooner name their children something frosty if not ancestral, in respect to the land they hailed from.

The last leg was drawn in. Ashes didn't say anything else, and she surprisingly didn't jeer or taunt to rub in the loss. She got up, adjusted how she held the bedroll, and lead on. Serana knelt by the stick figure that hung from the tree. Her guesses led to the loss of this noble man's, or woman's, life. She smirked, wondering if Ashes would get a kick that she was mourning this stick figure.

It would be the only loss. Serana was confident of that, and confident that this was not cockiness. She followed after the fire mage in silence, concentrating on ideas.

It had been a long time since she felt excited about something, like unravelling a mystery. This was one she swore she would get to the bottom of.

* * *

Flames. Fire. What were names that pertained to fire and started with 'Am'? Maybe it was Éclair's nickname and not actually Ashes' name. Maybe Serana misheard. She threw it out and brainstormed anything that could possibly be construed as fire, and hoped it was not a new trend of this era that would have never been thought of in her own. That was the major issue, the amount of time in between them that could have completely changed the semantics of Nord culture or politics behind names.

Did Ashes really seem like the product of politics or culture? The opposite of them, if anything.

The next time they made camp, out in the frozen tundra, Serana paid careful attention to everything the fire mage was doing. To the campfire anyways. The vampire had come as close as she could tolerate and knelt by it, accepting a large leaf with slabs of meat that had blood oozing out. She looked up at Ashes with a grateful smile, but the amber orbs shied away from her. There was no spike of fear, for once, but it still lingered a little.

There was an agreeable silence between them. Serana did her best not to disturb it while she sucked the blood out of the raw meat, watching the flames. They were calm and subdued and small, but not weak. It was comforting, almost, even for a vampire. When they finished their meals, Ashes unrolled the bedroll farther away from the campfire.

"Aren't you going to freeze out there?" Serana asked.

"It's not for me, it's for you. I hogged it last time. It's fairer if we take turns."

The vampire blinked. "Ashes, it's alright. I don't expect you to sleep in the snow."

"Nor I you. Besides..." Ashes tossed a warm grin. "It's ill-mannered for this peasant to treat royalty so poorly. I'd like to keep my head when we return to your home, please."

Serana barked a short laugh. "I'm not royalty, and you're not a peasant. Just take the bedroll. I'm not tired anyways, and it'd be wise if one of us guarded throughout the night. There's a lot more wildlife here, the farther out we travel away from populated areas."

"Mm... Alright, you make a fair point. Thanks, Serana."

"Don't mention it."

Ashes nodded in gratitude with that meek smile of hers. She set up the bedroll closer to her campfire, then stuck her **hand** in it to adjust the logs. It was a wonder how she had done it, manipulating fire to the degree it wouldn't burn her unless she needed it to. The cauterized wounds looked ghastly. Serana tried not to look at them and centred her attention on the campfire again. It wasn't long before the flames suddenly dwindled, sucked out of it's magicka with the one responsible fast asleep. It became more comforting and less antagonizing to watch. Serana dared come a little closer and laid on her side, letting her mind drift.

The log crumbled, covered in soot. It was beautiful to watch it's grey ashy exterior and bright orange interior shining through the cracks of what still could burn. It wouldn't be enough to sustain Ashes overnight with what paltry warmth even the vampire could feel though. Just because Ashes was a Nord didn't mean she was completely invulnerable to the cold as Serana was.

She got up to fetch a couple more logs and braced herself when she returned to the campfire, strategizing where to place her logs. Dumping it in the ashes was tempting, but she knew it would be useless. Even the embers scared her though, and-

Amber eyes. Fire. Ashes. Embers.

Serana dropped the logs. She needed to get it out. She marched quickly to the fire mage and roughly shook her awake, ignoring the stench of fear when the amber orbs snapped open, and Ashes gasped, trying to escape by crawling back.

"Shor's bones, Serana! Why did you wa-"

"Embers. Your name is Embers."

Ashes' jaw hung comically, silenced. Then she grinned mischievously. Serana was **sure** she had it now.

A head was drawn in the snow.

* * *

**Author's Note**

Shout out to ArielApostolos for all the guesses on Ashes' potential name in your ch.4 review, a nod to you in this chapter for them ;P Thanks to SeraphimicDestiny for always taking the time to review my story too, and thanks to all loyal readers and new followers. See you next chapter! What do you think Ashes' name is ;)?


	10. Ashes to Embers to-

**Chapter 10: Ashes to Embers to-  
**

Something that subtly smelled of sweetness poked Serana's lips. It wiggled inside and was victorious when she made the happy mistake of smiling. The tasty stalk of sweet grass teased her tongue and she hummed, biting gently so that sudden movements wouldn't terrify Ashes. The vampire opened her eyes and found amber orbs dancing back at her.

"Good morning," Ashes husked warmly.

She nodded her head to how Serana had even fallen asleep during her night watch - against a cold stone wall.

"Feeling homesick, Serana?"

If smirks could display the ability to struggle and be **dying** to do something, it was Ashes. Her mouth quivered and died to grin. The vampire rolled her eyes and held her head high while she went back to their camp to pack up the bedroll. She had sacrificed her last leather gauntlet and untied it's laces so that she could keep the bedroll bundled in an actual roll, with the carrying strap - courtesy of a certain hothead - burned off, for whatever purpose or solution it was even to serve. It's like Ashes' brains were made of flames.

Serana's eyes gravitated to the head drawn in the snow. She had the luxury of time and careful thought during her guard, but the ideas were so far fetched that it had no correlation to what she heard, or thought she heard, Éclair say. None of what the vampire thought had started with 'Am' anymore.

Serana tightened and tied the laces around the bedroll with a defeated sigh, looking over her shoulder when the snow crunched behind her with a chuckle.

"And people think I'm insane for not wearing much," Ashes started, confusing the vampire. "But at least I've got my magic to keep me warm. We're venturing to the coldest part of Skyrim and you still keep stripping."

"I'm not _stripping,_" Serana huffed indignantly. She threw the bedroll to the fire mage to carry, knowing where to strike back. "You just don't have anything to use to help yourself."

Ashes crossed her arms and her mouth opened to protest, as predicted. Then her mouth shut. She tied the other end of the bedroll laces to her sash's belt. That she didn't bite was most curious, with how much conviction her expression held, but perhaps it was not the type of conviction that mattered most. The fire mage silently took the lead, occasionally kneading her nape and running her hand through her hair. Serana waited as patiently as she could, but there was obviously something the Nord wanted to get off her chest, and she needed some coaxing in the vampire's professional - and totally obviously unselfish - opinion.

"Something on your mind?" Serana asked gently.

A gust breezed through, and steam floated away with the wind, steam that steadily rolled off the fire mage's skin like fuzzy heat waves in a desert. Ashes turned around with this conflicted and sheepish smile, her nervous tics in full bloom despite her forcing a grin to pretend everything is okay. All Serana had to do was shoot a disbelieving smile that showed she wasn't going to buy whatever was to be sold, and Ashes already cracked.

"Thank you," the fire mage blurted stiffly. Her gaze fell to the ground as if ashamed. "F-for helping me. For lots of things, actually, but mostly for helping me, like with my injuries, but... Most importantly, at the Thalmor complex." She looked up with stronger resolve in her eyes. "You're not a soldier nor allied with the Empire, at least, not of this age. I don't know how things were like for you in your era, but in this era, things are defined as black or white."

Serana's brow rose subtly, surprised. She did her best not to show it on her face and crossed her arms, letting the silence coax Ashes into spilling more with her curious statements.

"There's no in between, no compromise. And I realize that maybe someday, when you learn more about the politics of this era, you may find yourself gravitating to the opposite side, and so I thank you now for carrying that burden of regret. You've proven yourself as a selfless and noble ally, and I hope that politics will never drive us apart. I hope our friendship grows, that I..." Ashes came closer, and that smell of fear lurked back, but subdued. "That I grow. I don't want to be scared anymore. I won't be, with your help."

Taken aback, Serana stepped back to study the Nord's body language. She was puzzled, and rather than processing and consolidating this information, she blurted.

"Burden of regret? Why would you say that?"

"W-well..." Ashes smiled meekly, rubbing her shoulder this time. "I don't know what politics you typically align yourself with, or how you might come to view the war in Skyrim."

"I care for none of it. There will always be war, and war will always be war. You said it yourself that war is worse than hell. I agree. I don't plan on aligning to any such side, and besides..." Serana crossed her arms, smirking. "I don't think anyone would welcome a vampire in their ranks."

The fire mage grinned - lopsided - thumbing at one of her canines, which actually was surprisingly sharp, true to her shameless boast before.

"They've got a dragon in their ranks. We're not so different, you and I. I love fire, you love frost. You crave blood and I crave dragons."

"You're not a dragon, Ashes," Serana sighed boredly, rolling her eyes.

"Might as well be. I'm a dragon trapped in a woman's body."

"I don't think that's how it works," the vampire chuckled. "Back to the point, I don't care for politics, and I won't regret helping you, so you can rest easy. We won't be driven apart."

She didn't want them to either, but she couldn't quite find the courage to confess that, for some reason. It was strange to go from a family so reserved and driven by intellect, to the dynamics of a woman who didn't seem to have any misgivings over freely communicating about thoughts and feelings. Curious, with how pride dictated Ashes. Maybe. Maybe it was Serana focusing on it too much.

"You thank me for my assistance despite me 'not being a soldier nor allied with the Empire', but the thing is, Ashes, is that you don't **want** to be a soldier or fight the Empire's war." Serana smiled when the fire mage winced for a second, then looked at her with pleading eyes as if caught red-handed. "Yet you risked your life to rescue strangers you do not know nor asked thanks for, and that entire 'infiltration mission' ran on pure faith that **maybe** that's what you were sent there for."

"Not mayb-"

"Maybe," Serana affirmed sternly.

Her smile grew when Ashes' gaze dropped to the ground, and she went to rubbing her shoulder again. They heaved with a sigh and she gave a lame shrug as her confession.

"To tell you the truth, we should be heading to Solitude to report what happened, which is why I've come out here in the middle of nowhere instead," Ashes mumbled. "General Tullius will find me if he really needs me, like every other time he's sent for me. I've avoided Solitude whenever possible so I won't be sucked into mission after mission, but Éclair was right. I swore an oath. I have my duty as Dragonborn as well, and it's something I... May have abused, to get out of my duty as a Legionnaire. Nobody can argue a nebulous duty bestowed upon by the gods, after all. I fear I may lose Éclair if I were to ever say that I'm thinking of defecting to the will of the gods, but she **knows** me. She knows that will is as vague as anything, defined how I see fit. And it would be a convenient definition."

"If she knows you, then she shouldn't be forcing you into fighting a war you don't believe in," Serana blurted hotly. "As a friend, she should support you, not coerce you."

Ashes' hand hooked on her shoulder and she looked away.

"It's not that simple. We studied together and were friendly rivals in the College of Winterhold, and we joined the Empire together to lend our magical talents, but more so..." She chewed her lip. "As a friendly solution. But we never expected to get this engrossed in it all. Our dream was childish and fragmented, deigned to doom in the face of reality."

There was something about Ashes' accent that kept changing when it came to certain vocabulary. When it expanded and was less about typical Nord things or fire or challenges or teases, it was more flowery and suited her fruity laughter. It was lighter, and it flowed like water. There was grace that was betrayed by the way the woman behaved as a brute, grace that was closely reminiscent of Éclair's. It prompted the memory of the head in the snow. The vampire shook off her curiosity while it latched on to another.

"A friendly solution?" Serana asked.

Ashes' posture caved like a landslide and hunched in, hugging herself. She chewed her lip harder and sighed.

"A rudimentary competition of who was the strongest mage. The College of Winterhold banned magical duels between us because of the property damage we left in our wake, and the souring reputation among the locals when we had maybe possibly kind of gotten a little too carried away and a little too close to the town."

Serana stared.

Those two entered a war so that they could war among themselves?

"Shouldn't you have joined the war on opposite sides, then?" Serana asked.

Ashes stared.

"We don't want to **kill** each other."

Ashes stated it as if it was the most obvious answer of them all, and that Serana was the weirdest of them all for asking it.

"Besides, we looked at the grander picture. The Thalmor once had Ulfric in their hands, and they released him. Elenwen herself was his interrogator. The Thalmor mean to have this civil war going on in order to weaken the Empire, so that they can take over Skyrim with little loss of troops and resources on their side. Ulfric won't see that. Even if he were to win, he would not have the tactical aptitude to take the Thalmor down without pure brute force. He's incapable of setting his emotions aside and seeing the bigger picture of what we truly need to do to win. Does he think I'm happy that the worship of Talos is outlawed? Of course not. But if we play it smart, we will push the Thalmor back and restore it. The treaty was only a strategy to buy more time. Time Ulfric is adding to by stretching Skyrim thin, fighting on two fronts."

Ashes sucked in a long breath, and it seemed she struggled to contain her emotions as she went on in her explanation.

"We're slaughtering our own brothers and sisters over impatience, and the Thalmor orchestrated it all. They're a blight, a plague that must be burned out."

Serana smiled sadly. "Both you and Éclair have gotten sucked in deeper than either of you wanted. You hate war, but you believe in it's cause. I don't envy your position."

The fire mage's eyes fell back to the ground as if it held the answers to the universe. She shrugged lamely, then turned around to take the lead.

"Long story short, thanks for your help," Ashes mumbled.

Silence rang deafeningly between them, and Serana's eyes gravitated to the distance as her thoughts wandered. She moved out to the side when she felt the occasional sting of steam pushed her way by the wind.

"You are in my position," the fire mage muttered.

Serana's head rose, her eyebrow arched in confusion. "What do you mean?"

"You hate hurting innocent people, or people that are just on the 'other side'. Even as a vampire, you seek your sustenance through other means. That Elder Scroll has you involved in something you would sooner be on the other side of Nirn for, if you could choose. You hate it, but there's a cause you believe in that has tethered you to stay."

Ashes stopped and turned around with a sad smile. She held her hand out, where a small calm flame danced in her palm.

"You're not alone. I happen to be an expert at fighting fate, in battles I don't want to be in."

Something tightened in Serana's throat. She hadn't revealed much, back at the crypt, other than how she wasn't certain if she'd even be safe once at home, and how she needed to find out more before she could figure out who she could trust. And yet, for all of the cues that pointed towards Ashes being an absolute imbecile being barely different than that of a typical Nord, there were these kinds of moments that demonstrated otherwise. The woman hid her cunning as well as her true thoughts.

"Whatever comes next, Serana, know that you don't have to face it by yourself."

Serana nibbled on the inside of her lip. "You're quick to swear allegiance and loyalty to a creature you're afraid of, and have made it your personal mission to destroy."

"You swore loyalty for me, for those other soldiers. And don't say you had to just to pay me back for this." Ashes gestured to the open snow plains, and to the lone boat ahead. "You can easily return home on your own. You don't **need** me, because you're more powerful **than** me. You didn't have to help and you chose to head towards strife rather than avoid it out of self-interest, especially since you're in a strife of your own. That means a lot to me. Whether you believe it or not, it was a selfless and noble act. An act I intend to pay back."

Ashes extinguished the flame in her hand, and the steam suddenly stopped emanating from her skin. A violent shudder rolled through her body but it was ignored without a care, it seemed, when the fire mage approached Serana. Ashes smiled sheepishly the moment the smell of her fear laced the air, and it was made apparent on the vampire's face, who crossed her arms. Ashes gently tugged on one of those arms to uncross them, and a strange sensation gripped Serana when a warm hand wrapped around her own. The shorter Nord had her neck craned up to meet Serana's eyes, and there was something endearing, and confusing, and _vulnerable_ in the way Ashes looked and spoke to her.

"You're not a creature, Serana. And I'm not afraid."

A small smirk danced on the vampire's lips. "I can _smell_ that you are, Ashley."

They stared at each other, and Ashes' brow arched in amusement. She mirrored Serana's smirk. "Ashley?"

"My guess."

Excruciatingly long seconds ticked by. Serana actually missed the warm hand around hers when it slipped away, and dread pooled in her stomach when the fire mage knelt.

A new head and torso was drawn in the snow.

"Come on," Serana grumbled. "Blaise?"

An arm.

"Fira?"

Another arm.

"Give me another hint!" Serana groaned. "Even if it costs me a leg."

Ashes' fruity laughter echoed in the spacious tundra. She drew a leg in the snow. The fire mage bounced up with a wicked smile and folded her hands behind her head, twirling around to take the lead again, her words dancing as much the spring in her step. The steam from her skin came back with a vengeance to melt her goosebumps away.

"You're on your last leg. If you mess this up, you'll never find out." Ashes glanced over her shoulder with the largest grin ever seen. "Hint: it's singular, not plural."

Serana stared, drawing a total blank.

She picked up snow, patted it into a ball, and threw it at the laughing sadist.

* * *

Revenge was gotten by making the fire mage paddle all the way to the castle. It was also a way to keep Ashes' back facing the castle until the fog eased and revealed it. Serana wasn't yet ready for the reaction to come, nor the end of their journey. There was a deep-seeded pit of sorrow nestled in her belly. She didn't expect Ashes to come inside at all, and there were so many unknowns locked away behind the castle gates.

Was father still alive? Could mother have returned, could they have made amends? Could they have forgotten about the Elder Scroll and prophecy all together? Should she hide the scroll just to be safe? What if someone else caught wind of the prophecy, some ambitious vampire who had successfully usurped the throne and was now even thirstier than her father for power?

Well, that would be a much simpler solution. She could kill another vampire without batting an eye, but the answer changed the moment her father was part of the equation.

"Are we almost there?" Ashes wheezed, exhausted. Her rowing was growing sluggish.

"Yeah..." Serana mumbled.

The paddle dropped on her lap.

"Serana." The fire mage leaned forward, her breaths haggard and quick. She raked her hair out of her face and gently squeezed the vampire's knee. "Do you _want_ to go there?"

"I have to," Serana sighed. "I have no choice - like you and the Empire, this is between me and my family."

Ashes frowned, but nodded. She picked up the paddle and silently rowed again.

"If you ask me, I think it's just us in our own head saying that we don't have a choice, but we do. It just depends on what consequences we're willing to live with."

"I wasn't asking you," the vampire grumbled harshly.

Ashes shrugged and surprisingly didn't look offended, but rather that she expected it.

The moment the boat hit the shore, Serana's heart leapt to her throat. She was paralyzed and stuck in the boat, watching as Ashes watched her. Those amber orbs were drenched in a sombre look, but the fire mage continued to work wordlessly and jumped out. A burst of steam rushed out from the ice-cold water when Ashes jumped over the boat to pull it over and tie it to the rickety docks. She went to the patch of sand and ignited her legs on fire, rubbing her hands as she looked up at the castle and whistled.

"Thought you said you're not royalty?" Ashes shot a grin over her shoulder, then whirled around and knelt. "This humble peasant-"

"Stop," Serana choked. She looked away when she felt her eyes burn. "I appreciate it, but you don't need to."

Those amber orbs burned holes into her. She couldn't bring herself to look. It was endearing, the way this ridiculous Nord had tried to cheer Serana up.

It made everything hurt more.

"Let's just... Go. And let me take the lead in there. I'll make sure you stay safe."

"**In **there? I'm coming inside with you?" Ashes asked. "Is that wise? I'm a vampire hunter, Serana. I'm not going to have a tea party with them, and they're going to kill m-"

"They won't. I won't allow them." Serana's head rose and she narrowed her eyes at the fire mage's hands. "Just keep them as they are now and you'll be fine."

Serana walked past Ashes and took the lead. The stench of fear spiked and almost choked the vampire, but it was something she had expected. She was asking this woman to follow her out of blind faith, essentially, right into a den of the creatures she dedicated her life to destroy. It was likely why Ashes had even committed to magic and went to study at the College of Winterhold in the first place - a place Serana hoped to hear stories of when whatever was about to happen would blow over.

Time seemed to blur, or maybe it was just her heart racing that made it all seem... Numb. She was so absorbed in her own fear that she fell into an automatic mode, and it wasn't until she was inside the castle that she was pulled out of her head by the alluringly powerful smell of blood. The temptation almost overwhelmed her, until the gag behind her snapped her out of it.

Her eyes snapped to the hand that slapped around her forearm. She looked up, where Ashes had her eyes squeezed shut, and tears welled up in the corners of them. Her hand squeezed tightly over her nose and mouth. Serana frowned and reached over, trying to ease the hot hand wrapped around her forearm.

"Don't make me let go," Ashes pleaded pathetically. "Don't make me see this."

"Ashes..."

"_Please._ I can't see this again."

Serana sighed. "Just try not to burn my arm, will you?"

Ashes nodded feverishly.

Footsteps echoed inside the castle, and Serana's eyes widened when an altmer revealed himself around the corner. His eyes flared with murderous intent.

"How dare you trespass here!" And then it flared with recognition. "Wait... Serana? Is that truly you?"

Vingalmo. She was never fond of him. Serana didn't have the chance to answer when he pranced back into the court to announce her return, but all she could focus on was the shorter Nord hanging onto her arm for dear life. Ashes was going to pull her shoulder out of the socket if she kept tugging. At least it helped distract the vampire with that, rather than the roiling nausea thundering in her gut. They moved in pathetic increments that would have been ridiculously humorous in any other setting, and Serana had never been more grateful to have a humanized chain-ball locked on her.

Memories assaulted her when she entered the court. Her gaze locked with her father's, and everything else melted away. The world turned into tunnel vision. She barely even heard herself speak. The bloodied corpses on dining tables appealed to her darker impulses, but it was revolting to look at. She grimaced when she smelled puke and heard Ashes gag on her own vomit, chanting whispers under her breath.

"I'm in the forest. There's a campfire. Birds are singing. I'm in the forest. I'm in the forest. I'm in-"

"Serana?" Harkon's amused voice and sneer bled in her ears. "Is your... Friend... Alright?"

"Yes," she heard herself say, unable to take her eyes off of Ashes.

The hand on her arm would become searingly hot, then unbearably cold. It was the only thing that helped Serana pull through as she talked with her father, who was not at all even the faintest hint of the man she remembered. His eyes were like a feral vampire and devoid of all emotion except greed, fixated on the Elder Scroll she didn't remember taking off her back to hold it out in her hand. His snakelike smile made her want to explode, and her blood boiled when he had the audacity to come up to them and stroke Ashes' cheek, twirling a piece of her hair around his finger.

"What is your name, Nord?"

Serana could feel tremors. She opened her mouth to answer for the fire mage, until amber orbs burst to life. It was the vampire's turn to feel fear when the pupils shrunk into slits, and she ripped away when the hand on her forearm scalded through her clothes. Ashes' eyes roved over the corpses on the dining tables before they snapped to Harkon, who had taken a few steps back, his nose wrinkling with distaste over the steam that floated away from the fire mage.

"**Ashes,**" she hissed with conviction. "Something you're about to be if you touch me one more time."

Harkon's laughter thundered in the court. "My, such confidence. Are you aware of who you're talking to?"

"A vampire."

"Yes, but not just any-"

"I don't care. All vampires burn the same."

Ashes held up her fist. Serana reacted in time and pushed her arm down before the foolish mage called for war with all the vampires in this court by conjuring flame.

"Serana," Harkon's laughter abruptly cut short. "You should teach your _pet_ court etiquette before she's... Punished."

"Punished, huh?" Ashes narrowed her eyes. She thrashed her arm to get Serana off of her. "That'll be you, for all the innocent people you've dragged in here, dining on them like they're a rack of _fucking _lamb. I should burn every single one of you right here, right now and teach **you** 'etiquette' and respect."

The fire mage's fists ignited in flames, and all the vampires in the court hissed. Serana couldn't come close enough to stop her, and called on her frost magic to try and extinguish the flames themselves, but Ashes bounced away. Harkon remained calm and in control, his smile growing, thoroughly amused.

"Ashes, stop!" Serana yelled. "Don't throw your life away!"

What was this woman thinking? She had acknowledged Serana was the more powerful of them, and here she was, brazenly challenging the Lord of the court. Time seemed to stand still and the words bled out to the high ringing that swallowed her ears, panicking, **terrified **to lose Ashes right before her eyes. With a single wave of the hand, Harkon extinguished Ashes' flames and she screamed out in pain, forced to her knees by powerful blood magic. Serana rushed to her side.

"Father, stop, please! She doesn't know-"

"She insulted me and the others, knowing full well what she's doing. Why should I let this go unpunished?"

"Because she's the one that rescued me from the crypt! You would not have the Elder Scroll if not for her."

He would not have his daughter if not for Ashes, and yet this became an afterthought in Serana's mind. It saddened her immensely to have known what was his priority.

"Hm, yes. And she would have lived had she not threatened me." Harkon's hand glowed with red as wisps of blood magic weaved between his fingers.

For some reason, Ashes unhooked her sash, every movement weak and sluggish. The bedroll was relinquished and abandoned on the ground. She gave Serana a tired sweat-soaked smile, and wrapped the sash around the vampire's neck. Serana panicked when her father approached, groping for words to find a way out. She was frozen. The sash was tugged up to her eyes without warning, and suddenly, the entire courtroom burst in hisses and screams. Serana tugged the sash down only to find that Ashes was no longer there, and all the vampires were clawing at their eyes, even her father. She looked over her shoulder and saw the fire mage making a run for the exit.

Ashes turned around before she did, her amber orbs glowing bright. She ignited her fist on fire, calm, warm, reassuring. What was peculiar was that her hand was black.

Amber eyes. Fire. Ashes. Embers.

_"Embers. Your name is Embers."_

Black. Singular.

"Take care, Serana. I hope we see each other again someday."

Serana smiled sadly. "Me too, Ember."

_Ember_ grinned and laughed. The last of her mirth extinguished like smoke when the castle gates shut, and Serana was left with the moans of agony as the other vampires clawed at their eyes, burning and crying blood. Ashes - no, _Ember _\- must have blinded them by conjuring the hottest fire she could. Was that why her hand was black? Had she actually sacrificed it just to escape? All she had to do was listen to Serana and trust her! Why did that hothead explode? She was capable of containing her emotions, yet something triggered her, or maybe she didn't bother holding herself back because vampires.

Serana wanted nothing more than to chew out the fool.

She wanted nothing more than to be with the fool, for she had never felt more alone than now.


	11. The Eye of the Storm

**Chapter 11: The Eye of the Storm  
**

White noise rang in Serana's ears when reality set in. She looked around at the vampires that hissed and groaned, the streaks of blood running down their cheeks smeared. She looked beside her and a tentative hand reached out to touch her father's shoulder. It was shrugged off and slapped away, and her hand retreated to her chest as if she had been burned. She may as well have been.

"Father..."

What could she say? There was no deflecting the wrath of a wounded and insulted Lord. That Harkon was silent had been more terrifying than him exploding in rage. She was caught up in naive hope that maybe he would ignore it all and be happy that his scroll - and maybe his daughter - were finally home, but that hope didn't last long.

"Bring me her head," he quietly hissed between clenched teeth.

"Father, she was just scared," Serana blurted, desperate. "She's a waste of your time, a simpleton mortal who poses no threat. If she did, she would have burned this place to the ground." She tugged at the sash that was wrapped around her eyes to serve her point. "She still went out of her way to protect me."

Harkon seemed not to hear her, or chose not to. He stood and strode down the court with a fury, malevolent in the looks he spared the other wounded vampires. When the boons of their regeneration helped them with their eyes, they each looked at her with accusation and anger. She shrunk in her spot and inwardly cursed the hotheaded fire mage for the precarious situation Serana was trapped in now. She held on to the sash for both comfort and as a naive way of using it as some sort of voodoo object in hopes her curses were hexing that bloody Nord.

That was when she had noticed the strong smell of soot. Curious, she tugged the sash outwards. There were...

Serana masked her surprise. She stood up and retreated to her chambers without a word nor asking for permission, letting actions speak for her when she took the scroll and brought it back to father as she passed him. His scowling brow was one she knew all too well. One she could no longer care for. It didn't stop her from feeling like a little girl though, the heavy creases of his forehead knitted in disapproval and unkind judgment.

She took long and quick strides down the halls until she navigated her way back to her room, slamming the door shut. Her mind wandered and painted an image of her slamming it on someone else. Particularly their skull. Maybe it'd be the only way to get things through such a thick head.

"Why...?" Serana mumbled in defeat.

Her head thudded against the door. Maybe she was the one with a thick skull that needed slamming to get things through.

She tugged on the sash. It unravelled off her neck, and she stretched the sash between her hands. A message in soot - embroidered with a fiery edge - glowed at her.

**"Meet me at the cave where we discovered a powerful witch."  
**

Lips twinged in a sad smile. Tentatively, Serana thumbed at the fiery edge of a letter. It hadn't burned.

She wondered why Ashes - Ember, Ember was her name and it was going to take getting used to all over again - had done what she had done. She was afraid, yes, but she was promised she would be kept safe. Was it anger? Was there something else at play?

Was there something Serana could have done to prevent it all?

_What if's_ never helped. There were countless of things she could have done. Ashes - Ember - didn't need to come inside in the first place. The fire mage protested to it. Yet, there didn't even seem to be a hint of suspicion as to what Serana's intentions were. There were no accusations thrown over the Elder Scroll, or whether the fire mage was being dragged into a death trap. There were no accusations hailed on departure.

Just this message was left. The Elder Scroll was left. Serana, and every single vampire in the court, was still left.

"What were you thinking, Ashes?"

Ember. Her name was Ember. After all that stress, all that distress, all that work to figure out that bloody foolish Nord's name, and Serana couldn't help but feel like calling her Ashes. It was so fitting, with what she had done. Once again she had burned it all to ashes. She was no Ember, with potential, with the means to ignite a comfortable warmth with a hearty campfire. No, she exploded and burned everything in her path like a blaze, leaving no evidence nor motive behind.

The more Serana tried to decrypt the puzzle and figure that hothead out, the more she was left in the dark instead. Was there rationalization for someone who was so motivated by her heart more than her head?

Serana took a deep breath and wrapped the sash around her neck again. It's material durable, yet soft. Heat radiated from it, but heat that she was used to, heat that she was even beginning to take a blasphemous liking to. Heat that made her miss her friend. The offensively bright and overbearing and loud presence had shuttered out of her life in the blink of an eye, leaving nothing but the silent trail of wispy smoke.

"What am I to do now?" Serana lamented with a sigh.

She carried on further within, wrinkling her nose at the dust that had accumulated inside. It had caked most everything. Father didn't even bother arranging anyone to clean her chambers. Could she truly blame him? On one hand, the realistic part of her knew he hadn't cared. On the other hand, the naive little daughter reasoned that it may have been too painful to acknowledge this room's existence, and therefore her missing for so many an era.

How had that affected him? The prophecy? Was he still obsessed with it? Of course he was. That vicious look in his eyes was on par with that of a feral beast. The Elder Scroll was still his priority, his thirst for their species to dominate the night and the day.

She didn't need any more information. She knew he was going to continue with his work no matter what the cost, and she had just handed him the vital piece to it all. All of this was to find out who she could trust, and yet that one and only person left the vicinity. She knew she couldn't trust father.

"Why did I come here?"

Serana fell on her bed and suppressed a cough when it kicked up dust. She tugged the sash up to her nose and inhaled deeply. Her forearm fell across her eyes. Her head hurt, and her heart ached from the answer. The naive little daughter was the reason she came here.

Nothing changed except for the worse. The castle was bloodier with revolting - revoltingly enticing - smells, and she recognized few of the members in court, all of them twisted by vicious savagery and blood permeating the resting-snarls on their faces. All that she was not was shoved in Ember's face, renewing the fire mage's primary motivation for everything that she was and set her heart to.

But the message...

With a frustrated sigh, she huffed. "What am I supposed to do?"

Serana turned on her side and pulled the sash further up so that it covered her entire face. She opened her eyes and they adjusted in the darkness, staring at the words that she could still read this close.

**"Meet me."**

Like a certain hothead, Serana took off without another thought. Thought she needed in order to escape. When Serana came out into the hallway, there were a couple vampires down on the other end, approaching. She could smell fury and sense bad intentions, snaking around her gut with dread. Had father ordered her capture? He must have known he would need more than two to take her down. He wasn't a fool, nor would he dare underestimate the powers of a Vampire Lord when he himself shared them with her.

Serana took a gamble and approached decisively, staring down the other vampires as they had calmly passed each other without incident - apart from their glares. She took great care not to appear or hold tension within her muscles nor her breath. It wasn't until she was at the corner of the court that she allowed herself to feel relief.

It was short-lived.

The bloodlust in here was enough to make her choke. Vampires tore more viciously into both carcasses and _live victims_ on the dining tables to get their aggression out. A group huddled at the exit, blades and fangs brandished, with her father issuing orders to them.

Serana's eyes fell on the Elder Scroll. It rested on Harkon's throne.

Where could she escape to? She couldn't grab it now and make a run for it. She'd be caught by all the vampires in here, if not at the door. Father would know of her intentions and surely give in to his rage if he suspected her betrayal. Ashes would have taken the boat back to the mainland.

Serana had to play this smart. She had to bide her time. How much time that would take, only time itself would tell.

She returned to her room, cursing the fire mage under her breath.

* * *

Sweat had never been so unwelcomed than now. Ember had nothing to wipe herself down with. Though she may have been a Nord, she was not impervious to the powerful chill that rocked this tundra. Her teeth chattered lightly. It made her heart ache evermore with every step she took farther away, for all she could keep thinking about were the jokes she'd make at the vampire's expense.

Ember looked over her shoulder at the castle shrouded in the fog in the distance. There was an overwhelming tidal wave of emotions that still brewed hot within her, confusing her. She didn't know if she was furious or depressed, but this melancholic hole digging into her was the worst. She missed having a companion by her side.

She could first return to Solitude and see if she could meet up with Éclair and Damian at the tavern, and find out if the freed Legionnaires have returned home safely.

With her heart already made up, Ember begun the long trek home. She kept her focus on conjuring heat, the thick snow collapsing around her legs whenever she set them ablaze in short bursts. She looked at her black hand, where the alteration spell still ran strong and deep, overpowered by accident in the heat of the moment. She flexed her fingers and winced at the sharp pins and needles that buzzed like insects beneath her skin. They were still sensitive to movement. She sandwiched her hand between her armpit and ribs to shield it from the wind, and to bring some extra warmth to herself.

It was when she swiped and felt air instead of her sash that she reminded herself of the impromptu promise she had just made. She looked back at the castle again. Would Serana come? If she wanted to, when could she be able to?

Those other vampires weren't going to leave Ember alone.

Reality was setting in. Fear tangled with all the other confounding mess of emotions, and spurred her feet on to move faster. There was no way she wasn't going to be hunted down. But could she run away? What if Serana was captured and tortured for the message left on the sash? What if she was forced to lead them to Ember, or what if she was _willing?_

Something else gnarled deep and burned molten hot inside her chest, growing tight. Her breaths, lungs aching with every frigid breath in, quickened.

"She wouldn't," Ember hissed insistently to herself.

But what if?

With what she had just done, with how tense their relationship has been, could she be confident in their trust and friendship? With a vampire Ember admitted dedicating her life to eradicating?

Her chest wouldn't stop tightening. Her cheeks flushed hot, but she shivered.

She pushed herself to move faster, her flames behaving as erratically as the pendulum her emotions swung on. She needed to ensure her safety first before she wondered of Serana's.

Until guilt hopped on the wagon of her emotions.

"_Fuck,_" Ember nipped under her breath, chewing her lip.

She looked behind her, seeing how far she had already come from the castle. It didn't stop her from taking a step towards it, but she froze, and forced herself to take one back.

_"You've proven yourself as a selfless and noble ally, and I hope that politics will never drive us apart. I hope our friendship grows, that I..."_

_"I don't care for politics, and I won't regret helping you, so you can rest easy. We won't be driven apart."_

Ember remembered the look in the vampire's eyes when she was called out for her true feelings on being a soldier in this bloody war. She remembered how Serana fought alongside her, with her, in the Thalmor complex, consequences and thoughts be damned. That vampire followed her into the jaws of hell itself, even when Ember was the cause of raising that hell all around them.

_"Yet you risked your life to rescue strangers you do not know nor asked thanks for."_

Neither did Serana. Ember never thanked her for that. She shouldn't have been thanked for doing her duty.

Gods, why was it so bloody hard to take that step towards the castle? This was Ember's mess. She dug that hole in for the both of them. It was her responsibility to dig their way back out of it, but that place was a **nightmare.** She could still taste the puke in her mouth. It was more welcome than the gruesome deathly stench that pervaded her nostrils and refused to leave.

Terrified, Ember took another step back, and ripped herself apart for it. Nords weren't cowards. Honour be damned, any Nord would be afraid in the face of those horrors!

Snow crunched in the distance, alerting her. She whipped around and scrutinized every little detail, her hands heating up and ready. She rushed over to take cover behind a tree. Adrenaline flooded her body, and when she stole a peek around the corner, her body stiffened. There was a tall fur-cloaked figure rapidly approaching her. If they needed furs, they weren't a vampire. But what if it was a disguise?

"Hold!" Ember yelled. She stuck out an arm and set her fist ablaze. "State your intentions or I will with this!"

The figure didn't say anything.

"I said hold!"

She tried again and again, reluctant to make good on her threat. She came out of her cover and tried to appear as intimidating as possible, setting her entire arm on fire next.

Her eyes widened when the figure pulled his hood down.

"D-Damian? What are you doing here?"

Her flames extinguished, and adrenaline flooded her body for a different reason as the quiet giant of a man encroached. He didn't say a single word as he passed her, and her temple twinged with annoyance. She whirled around and followed after him.

"Hey! I'm talking to you! Is your tongue frozen? Don't make me thaw it for you!"

Damian still didn't say anything. It wasn't until she realized that he was there **alone **when he was always by Éclair's side, no matter the circumstances. This wasn't a good sign.

"Damian, where's Éclair? Is she alright?"

It was as if he hadn't heard her at all. His body language gave nothing away. The fur cloak innocently sashayed behind him when he stormed through the thick snow as if he was on a mission. She snapped and packed a ball of snow in her hand, grimacing when she foolishly used her sensitive one, and threw it at him. No reaction. She did it again.

The snowball exploded in mid-air when a tiny bolt struck it.

"Je vais bien, merci," a cool voice drawled with amusement. "Still without your manners, I see. Brute."

Ember's head swivelled to look behind her as she jumped in her skin. Éclair was _right there._ She had exposed herself from hiding behind a tree not far away from the one the fire mage had taken cover. The small Breton wore a thinly veiled smirk, her skin extra pale with light frosting coating her features. She approached without making noise, which was eerie to see as the snow silently buckled beneath her boots enchanted by the deceptive power of illusion.

"Éclair, what are you doing here?"

"We followed you, of course." Éclair stuck her index and thumb in her mouth, whistling. "Attends-nous, Damian!"

Ember glanced over her shoulder and saw that he stopped, but still faced the castle. His hand rested on the pommel of his sword. She looked back at Éclair with confusion.

"Since when? And why?"

Éclair shrugged. "Since you thought we left you." She smiled deviously. "Did you really think I'd leave you alone with that vampire?"

Arms crossed, Ember stared, furiously working the pieces of the puzzle together. There was something more to this than what anger wanted to take a bite at. She narrowed her eyes.

Silence made Éclair cave in and tell the truth. The Breton hastily wrestled a journal out of her travelling sack.

"She is a gold mine of history, Ember!"

"Éclair, what on Nirn happened to duty? You said you had to report to Solitude."

"I never said when I would, though. Besides, the General will figure it out after the Legionnaires return home, and by then my report will be useless."

Ember's head lulled back with a groan. "By the Gods, and I thought I was bad for reports."

Éclair feigned deaf. "So? Where's Serana?"

The fire mage scowled sullenly. "First answer why you didn't help us fight the dragon. You know. The nice fellow that tried to bite my head off?"

And she feigned nonchalance. "You two looked like you had it under control."

"It was a **dragon,** Éclair! And since when do I ever have things under control?!"

The Breton's mouth curled in the kind of scary smile as if she discovered juicy gossip. "Since you paired up with a vampire you don't want to kill."

Ember groaned. "You're so lazy."

"I prefer to call it reserving my energy. Besides, you know I would've if I truly believed you needed help." Éclair gestured to the castle. "Now, more importantly-"

"I fail to see how a **dragon** trying to** kill** me is less important than where your history book is."

Éclair gestured more dramatically as she flung her hands in the direction of the castle. "Gold mine, Ember!"

"Talos smite me." Ember whirled around and marched to the castle, then froze. She smiled nervously when she glanced over. The Breton was giving her a strange look.

"Éclair, there are a lot of vampires in there."

"T'is her home, oui?"

"Well, yes, but... They're not friendly."

It was the Breton's turn to cross her arms, and Ember shrunk in her spot when even Damian had done the same, his heavy brow scrutinizing her. It said the words that came out of Éclair's mouth.

"Is there a reason for that? Perhaps one that involves fire?"

Ember huffed and marched off again with stubborn pride. "They asked for it."

"I sincerely doubt Serana would have. If she did, she'd be here with you, non? Damian, donne un manteau à Ember."

While the fire mage refused to tell the truth, Damian had taken out a thin cloak from his rucksack and tossed it over to her. She also refused to look at Éclair in the eyes. Ember wound the cloak around her waist, nodding in gratitude when Damian silently helped her by slicing the fabric that hung like a curtain between her legs, granting her ease of manoeuvrability.

Pale eyes pierced her and she was assaulted on both fronts, her friends peering at her with expectation. She caved with a sigh.

"I panicked, okay?! I left a message for Serana on where to meet me, but..." Ember chewed her lip and stared at the castle with worry. "I'm sorry..."

"Sorry isn't going to help her," Damian murmured. Though quiet, his words hit her as if he slammed a mace into her heart.

Ember bowed her head in guilt. She lifted it when Éclair's hand fell on her shoulder, and the Breton wore a reassuring smile.

"But what will is us."

* * *

Every plan Serana concocted had shortly ended in disaster within her mind. Without a boat, she couldn't leave the island. She didn't know how to build one. She was still weakened, so even if she had assumed the form of the Vampire Lord - something she would sooner rather not - it wasn't like she had the energy and enough power to be able to fly across. If she changed into a bat, she wouldn't be able to steal and get away with the Elder Scroll. She wasn't going to slip away that easily with everyone in the court on edge and suspicious of her in the first place, for bringing a vampire hunter in.

Serana nibbled on the flesh of her cheek in thought. She poured herself a glass of wine and went to sit by the fireplace, holding her hand out to logs charred eons ago. She closed her eyes and tried to imagine that they were on fire, that they exuded the warmth her friend's flames made.

It only made this all more frustrating. It was the distraction she didn't need right now, for she had to focus.

She sipped at her wine. Her mind painted images as she walked through the paths of her plans, visualizing everything and the things that might pose a problem or a threat.

Yells outside her room caught her attention. She set the wine glass aside and went to go to the court to investigate, nipping her tongue when the Elder Scroll was no longer on her father's throne, but in his hands. The shouts came from a couple of vampires that were arguing and fighting, probably over the thrall that was still half-alive on the table.

Harkon's eyes met hers. A shudder rolled down her spine, but she kept composed and remained level on his gaze until he was the one that looked away, stroking the scroll in his lap with a sour look. Typical. Never happy with anything. It was always just about power and that bloody prophecy. It was a shame those scrolls couldn't be destroyed. Part of her would take pleasure in it, staring right into his eyes. That irritating naive little daughter still held on to hope that he could be saved.

Serana slithered back to her chambers, taking the fire mage's sash off her neck. She draped it over her arm, and when she returned to her room, she took her seat and unfolded it on her lap to stare at the message. She sighed and raked a hand through her hair, then reached to sip her wine.

From an empty glass.

Instinct flared, and she stared inside of it, but what she kept a close eye on was whatever dared move in her peripheral vision. She played it nonchalant and shrugged, pretending she hadn't noticed as she went to go fetch a refill. There was nothing in the shadows. There was everything in the silence. She poured herself a glass and went to go back to her seat from the fireplace, until the glass was suddenly lifted right out of her hand. She summoned sparks in her hand and reeled back, bewildered by the floating glass as it tipped, looking like it was going to pour down on the ground. The liquid disappeared as it fell out of the glass.

Serana narrowed her eyes and lowered her voice menacingly. "Show yourself." The ball of electricity grew in her hand. "**Or else.**"

A sigh.

"Another one without manners."

In the blink of an eye, the woman revealed herself. Serana schooled her surprise, but hadn't dispersed her sparks, just to be safe.

Éclair smiled. "How do you do, Lady Serana?" Her eyes snapped to the tiny bolts swirling and nodded to it. "If you continue to address me as a threat, might I suggest a different element? Lightning is something of a specialty of mine."

"What are you doing here?" Serana reluctantly dispelled her magic. She frowned when the Breton continued to sip at her wine. "You could have just asked for a glass."

"Wonderful, may I?"

Éclair helped herself at the vampire's desk and poured another glass, then topped off the one she stole. She held one in each hand but only nursed the one she took.

Serana crossed her arms. This kind of mischief was nothing she was entirely unused to. She kept her guard up, perhaps even higher than ever before. That this woman was here roused numerous suspicions.

"Weren't you supposed to be reporting to your commander?" Serana asked. "Answer me. What are you doing here?"

Éclair leaned against Serana's desk, and set the extra wine glass down.

It wasn't long before it floated too.

"_We_ are here to get you out of here."

* * *

**French Translation**

Oui/non - yes/no

Je vais bien, merci - I am alright, thank you

Attends-nous - wait for us

donne un manteau à Ember - give Ember a cloak


End file.
